For starters I have been a christian for about 8 yrs now, I gave my life to Christ back in 2016 even though I didn’t fully understand what that entailed at the time and I honestly didn’t even surrender to the Lord until much later, and yes surrender goes beyond just being a believer. Do you consider yourself a christian? If not, do you know any christians around you? How do they act? Would you say they live up to that title, why or why not? These are just a few questions I invite you to ponder on as you read through today’s blog.
Today’s reading is mainly to challenge my fellow christians into really understanding what the word “christian” actually means and making sure we aren’t just professing something we are not. Did you know that the disciples weren’t called Christians until much later and this is because they started resembling Christ in word and in deed. This tells me that you first become a disciple (follower or student of Christ) and as you learn His Heart and His ways, you begin to mirror Him in your day to day life therefore having the right to be called Christian.
As christians it isn’t just about identifying with Christ rather our entire lifestyle ought to reflect that. However I have seen way too many people associate themselves with Christ but are nothing like Christ which makes me question the true meaning of what a christian is. Is it just a saying or is it a way of life? If I have to question that, can you imagine what our brothers and sisters who don’t actually follow Christ think of us?
The truth is that not everyone who identifies with Christ actually represents Him well or even cares to do so and this ends up giving people a wrong view of Christ. It doesn’t just make us christians look bad, if anything it makes us look foolish and makes the one we are representing look like a liar. I wholeheartedly believe that if someone doesn’t look or act like Christ, you have the right not to call them a christian. My plea today is, let’s not try to mirror our friend or our neighbor that says they are a christian, let’s aim to mirror Christ Himself.