Just a Name?

Being a Christian doesn’t carry the same meaning it did a few decades ago. Today in America, being a Christian is almost the same thing as being an American. If you have ever been to church, if you have been baptized, if you have ever prayed to Jesus, you’re considered a Christian. When I am witnessing to a person, sometimes I will ask him or her, “So do you call yourself a Christian?” More times than not people say “yes” because of some experience as mentioned above. But they are not living a life that reflects that they are indeed a follower of Christ. There lies the problem: there are many people who claim to be fans of Jesus, but they are not followers. In the Gospels, you will see the same—there were many people who were constantly surrounding the Lord. But most of them were only enthused, interested, admirers. There were only a few who truly desired to follow Christ, forsaking all others. Even the rich young ruler came to Jesus, expressing his admiration by calling Jesus “Good Master” and asking Him how he might inherit eternal life. But Jesus wasn’t interested in someone who wasn’t willing to give up his riches, because Christ knew the man would have to give up so much more than riches if he would have really followed Him. You see, a true Christian isn’t a man who God encounters and leaves unchanged. A lost soul found by God is radically changed from the inside out. He is raise from death to life, and this produces a very different looking person! New desires, new ambitions, new attitudes—you become a new creature in Christ! Sadly, many Americans do not realize this. They go on living in sin, thinking they are “good to go” because of a one-time decision to be a Christian. You do have to make a choice to repent and believe, but really it isn’t your decision. Christ is the One who draws you, gives you the ability to repent and believe, cleanses you, and keeps you. You see, conversion is just the beginning of a long journey called Sanctification. It is a hard road, but a glorious one. In the end, all glory is given to Him, because it is by grace we are saved through faith, and that not of ourselves. It is the gift of God lest any man should boast! I wish so badly that that shallow doctrine of easy believe-ism has not plagued our churches as it has. I see the fruit of it all the time and it saddens me because the enemy has used it to inoculate and harden the hearts of those who have been deceived by it. But, I know that there is no one who God cannot still save. And this gives me hope: that God is sovereign and that those whom the Father has given the Son, He will lose none of them.