If you live in the UK and were asked to indicate what your religion is, along with many in the country you might well answer, ‘CHRISTIAN’. However, if you were then challenged with what you meant by this description, what answer would you give?
Various answers might be given, for example:
- I was born in a Christian country.
- My parents are / were Christians.
- I was christened as a baby.
- I have been baptised as an adult.
- I attend church regularly.
- I do my best to live a morally upright life.
Commendable as these things are, none of them qualify me to be called a Christian. They all rest on what I, or others, can do to make me right with God.
The Bible tells us:
‘It is good that a man should both hope and quietly wait for the salvation of the Lord . . . salvation is of the Lord’, Lamentations chapter 3 verse 26; Jonah chapter 2 verse 9.
It is interesting to discover that the word ‘CHRISTIAN’ occurs only three times in the Bible:
Acts chapter 11 verse 26 – a Christian is a person who has EXPERIENCED A CHANGE:
- believers in Jesus Christ were first called ‘CHRIST-ONES’ = ‘CHRISTIANS’ in Antioch.
- they had fled from persecution in Jerusalem.
- they were no longer known as Jews or pagans – they had changed! Their lives now revolved around Christ.
Acts chapter 26 verse 28 – a Christian is a person who has MADE A CHOICE:
- In this section, Paul witnesses to King Agrippa about the change that had come to his life through becoming a Christian.
- he had to make a choice – thankfully, he made the right one and trusted Christ as his Saviour.
1 Peter chapter 4 verse 16 – Christian is a person who has FACED A CHALLENGE:
- becoming a Christian is not an easy option.
- ‘If any man SUFFER AS A CHRISTIAN, let him not be ashamed; but let him glorify God on this behalf’, 1 Peter 4v16.
- The Christian life is described in the Bible as A RACE, A FIGHT, A BATTLE.
Are you a CHRISTIAN as described in the Bible?