Tuesday, December 9, 2008

Can I Share?

So maybe I will name anything to do with what I learning spiritually, Can I Share? I have a lot to ask of you today! I want to know from others your answer to...

How would you describe a true Christian?

This is a hard question to me. Well, maybe not hard but I DO want to put some thought behind it. I want to be straight in my own mind and heart about this. We are doing a year long study of Romans in our Sunday school class and this in one of the Living it Out questions. So here is some of my though process~

Webster's dictionary defines Christian as adhering to the religion based on the teachings of Jesus Christ. A person who believes in Jesus Christ, an adherent of Christianity. A person who exemplifies in his or her life the teachings of Christ.

So a basic answer would be a Christian is a person who believes in Christ and shows by example His teachings.

I think where I am being questioned in my own mind is in my earlier post about not being brought up in a Christian home. Yes my mom and dad believed in Christ, yes I remember going to church a few times and my parents were good people. So I guess we were missing the showing by example.

So if you believe but don't lead by example does that make you not a Christian? I mean a true Christian? Is there anything but a true Christian? You either are or you aren't. I hear so many times, "Oh so and so said they were a Christian but they sure aren't living that way." Or another one I hate to hear, " Oh they really weren't serious when they gave their life to Christ, they were just fooling themselves and they really aren't a Christian at all." I mean do people really believe that as soon as we give our lives to Christ we will never fall? Do people really think that if we do we really aren't a Christian? That we lose it?

What are the ramifications of not being an example? What examples are we to show?

1 comment:

Tom & Angela said...

Okay so I am getting a clearer answer. Like I said I think a Christian is a believer who lives a life following Jesus example. So what is the example and what happens when we don't live by example? Well, 1 Corinthians 9:24-10:13 says Paul gained control over his body to not be disqualified from the prize. He says we should not be idolators, not be sexually immoral, we should not test the Lord, and do not grumble. Israel's history gave us those examples. We haven't even covered the example of Jesus and all that covers. So today I will start gaining control over my own body, with the help of the Holy Spirit. I am a believer, a Christian learning by examples, not running aimlessly. Tomorrow I will recommit because today is what is asked of me. I don't want to barily escape the fire, I want the gold!

So my next question is what is the difference in the prize and the inheritance if any?