Christian
A name derived from Christ; one who believes in Christ, belongs to Christ and is a follower of Christ and His teachings.
Acts 11:26 When he found him, he brought him back to Antioch. Both of them stayed there with the church for a full year teaching great numbers of people. (It was there at Antioch that the believers were first called Christians.
Matthew 11:28-30 Then Jesus said, "Come to me, all of you who are weary carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest for your souls. For my yoke fits perfectly, and the burden I give you is light."
Jesus call for an open, free relationship.
Acts 1:8 "But when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, you will receive power and will tell people about me everywhere--in Jerusalem, throughout Judea, in Samaria and to the ends of the earth."
Galations 5:22 But when the Holy Spirit controls our lives, He will produce this kind of fruit in us; love, joy, peace, patience, kindness. goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Here there is no conflict with the law.
Recognize the Holy Spirit's power withing you.
Romans 12:1-2 And so dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice -- the kind He will accept
Commit your life and submit your will to Him.
Philippians 4:4-7 Always be full of joy in the Lord. I say it again--rejoice! Let everyone see that you are considerate in all you do. Remember, the Lord is coming soon. Don't worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank Him for all He has done. If you do this, you will experience God's peace, which is far more wonderful than the human mind can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Jesus.
Rejoice is a command and obedience is possible because "true joy" is in the Lord.
Colossians 3:16 Let the words of Christ, in all the richness, live in your hearts and make you wise. Use His words to teach and counsel each other. Sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs to God with thankful hearts. Keep seeking to learn from His life and His teachings.
2 Peter 1:3-11 By his divine power, God has given us everything we need for living a godly life. We have received all of this by coming to know him, the one who called us to himself by means of his marvelous glory and excellence. And because of his glory and excellence, he has given us great and precious promises. These are the promises that enable you to share his divine nature and escape the world’s corruption caused by human desires. In view of all this, make every effort to respond to God’s promises. Supplement your faith with a generous provision of moral excellence, and moral excellence with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with patient endurance, and patient endurance with godliness, and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love for everyone. The more you grow like this, the more productive and useful you will be in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. But those who fail to develop in this way are shortsighted or blind, forgetting that they have been cleansed from their old sins. So, dear brothers and sisters,[a] work hard to prove that you really are among those God has called and chosen. Do these things, and you will never fall away. Then God will give you a grand entrance into the eternal Kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
Christian life is a growth process--from spiritual milk to solid food.
Mom has some more verses which I will share next time. I believe God has some specific reader/readers in mind and He want you to know He is calling you. So I will give you what I have inside and pray that He will use my simple words to reach your heart.
So what is being a Christian? I see it as not only a believer and follower of Jesus Christ, but someone who knows they need Him. Becoming a Christian starts there. With seeing our need . God tells us that no one is good enough to live in heaven with Him, we all fall short of perfection and holiness. So we are stuck. No way to make ourselves good enough. No way to save ourselves from Hell. And really, who wants to live in a place of eternal sadness, darkness and horror when you can live in a place of light and peace and joy (a no brainer if you ask me! LOL). So that is the dilemma. But our Creator, made a way. He Himself came down in the body of Jesus Christ to die on the cross for forgiveness. And He rose from the dead after 3 days that we may have eternal life. And in accepting this gift of forgiveness and life, not only do we get help in the here and now, when we close our eyes in death, we are welcomed with open arms into the everlasting beauty of the presence of our loving Father.
Living as a Christian does not mean life is easy. Sometimes it is even harder than being a non believer. You still have problems and sadness, good days and bad. It is not about being perfect. That was only possible for one man, the man Jesus Christ. The more we allow the Holy Spirit to have His way in our hearts and minds, the more we reflect Christ's character (some days I do this better than others). The life of a Christian is about living and growing in a relationship with a living and loving Savior and sharing His love with those around you, desiring them too, to know the love of this wonderful Jesus.
You can take a chance that this is not true. That's is old fashioned superstition. You can say, "oh, being a Christian means I can't have any fun" (nothing can be further from the truth though). You can say things like there is no God. (But in my humble opinion, it takes more faith to believe that this universe, this world, this human race was made by accident than by an intelligent, loving Creator.) Maybe you believe there is a God, but that He doesn't care...I mean look at the horrible things that go on in this world, right? Unfortunately, we live in a fallen world, where you and I have free will. And that means that hurting, soul sick people will hurt other people...a sad and terrible truth. You may think that living for God means the end to your dreams and desires....again not true. Obedience to Him brings the fulfillment of the dreams and desires of your heart. Who do you think put them there anyway? He is the one who created us with dreams and desires. He designed our personalities. Gave us specific talents and likes and dislikes. (Psalm 139:13-14 You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body and knit me together in my mother's womb. Thank You for making me so wonderfully complex! Your workmanship is marvelous--and how well I know it. How's that for giving you value!!)
I pray for you dear readers, you who don't know whether to believe or not. I pray you hear the knocking on the door of your heart and open to let in the Savior who loves you. Jesus help people, those you created and love to believe.
The Lord says it better than I ever could:
Romans 3:11-12 No one is good--not even one. No one has real understanding; no one is seeking God. All have turned away from God; all have gone wrong. No one does good, not even one.
Romans 3:22-28 We are made right with God by placing our faith in Jesus Christ. And this is true for everyone who believes, no matter who we are.
For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard. Yet God freely and graciously declares that we are righteous. He did this through Christ Jesus when he freed us from the penalty for our sins. For God presented Jesus as the sacrifice for sin. People are made right with God when they believe that Jesus sacrificed his life, shedding his blood. This sacrifice shows that God was being fair when he held back and did not punish those who sinned in times past, for he was looking ahead and including them in what he would do in this present time. God did this to demonstrate his righteousness, for he himself is fair and just, and he declares sinners to be right in his sight when they believe in Jesus. Can we boast, then, that we have done anything to be accepted by God? No, because our acquittal is not based on obeying the law. It is based on faith. So we are made right with God through faith and not by obeying the law.
Revelation 3:20 Look! Here I stand at the door and knock. If you hear me calling and open the door, I will come in, and we will share a meal as friends.
I pray you open the door.
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