What Does it mean to be a Christian? What does it really mean to be a follower of Christ? Have we lost sight of what it means to actively pursue Christlikeness? I was challenged by the question while reading through the book Overcoming The Dark Side of Leadership by Gary L. McIntosh and Samuel D. Rima. “In todays evangelical subculture it seems that the answer to the question, What does it mean to act like a Christian? is increasingly at odds with the teaching of Scripture” (P183). I would not disagree with this answer–but it seems like theres more to it than that—doesn’t it?
What does it mean to me to be a Christian? A Christian is someone who not only jumps through the evangelical hoops of committing ones life to God–but someone who takes seriously their role to literally be Christ to those in their lives. When Jesus was asked by the the religious leaders what the single greatest commandment is from the law–his response was that the greatest commandments are loving God and loving others. The greatest commandment is love.
This is crazy, basically Jesus is saying that if we were to forget every commandment in the law but only remember one commandment, it should be love. My heart sinks every time I think about it.
The only problem with this is a lot of “Christians” embody an attitude that, simply put, doesn’t reflect the love of Christ. We must rethink our choices, our words, and our representation of Christ. A lot of Christians treat the bible like a God; however, a book with holy content that must be lived instead of merely talked about. Displayed instead of explained. I would not argue against the teaching of scriptures, obviously. I do, however, challenge those who think teaching the scripture is the most important defining factor to being a christian to rethink what it means to them to represent Jesus.
May the Lord bless you and keep you, as He has called you His own. May His presence be ever clear to you on this day, and may He plant in you a seed, that will give root to change.
I think it’s important to re-think what it means to be a Christian every once in awhile. Otherwise your just vomiting up what you’ve heard from the pulpit, not digesting it at all. And what if what you find when you investigate is that the Church seems to be nothing like what Christ talked about? I default to the old quote (not sure who said it) “the church is a whore but she also is my mother.”
Good thoughts Brett. Keep up the blogging!
I believe Mother Theresa originally said that quote; however, it was made known to me by Shane Claiborne. I appreciate your thoughts and totally agree. Thanks for the encouragement David! Look forward to writing more.
Brett,
Really love this post and speaks volumes into my life right now. Came to a pretty harsh realization last night that most (if not all) the people I connect with locally who claim to be Christian haven’t taught me a thing about how to love and treat people. This has to change. I am sorry if you have been hurt in any way by people who claim to be Christian. I sincerely hope you continue writing about this. This conversation needs to continue.
Praise God