Who is a Christian?
Does that question sound strange. But
seriously, what does it mean when you say am a christian cause the
truth is most people will get that answer wrong. People feel my parents
are Christians, automatically am a christian, or my wife/husband is a
christian which means am a christian. If you are part of these groups,
am sorry you are wrong.
Before I go on, let me
first explain what a christian is and what it is all about. Christian
means Christian like, meaning nature and character of Jesus Christ. And
you can't know something one's character, till you know the person, and
you can't know Him till you accept Him. So, I asked again, what is a
christian or better still are you a christian?
The truth of the
matter is, most Christians don't even behave like Christians, I have
even seen pastor's behaving worst than even the pagans.
In the
bible Jesus said when some one slaps you on one chick turn the other, I
know easier said than done, but that is the instruction giving to us by
Christ Himself, the person we are meant to have His character.
How can I become more like Christ?
God's
desire for all who know Him is for us to become more like Christ. We do
this by first growing in our knowledge of Christ. It stands to reason
that we cannot grow to be like someone we don’t know. The deeper our
knowledge of Christ, the deeper our understanding of Him, and the more
like Him we become. Among other reasons, we are to know and understand
Christ so that we will be secure in the faith.
The Apostle Paul
reiterates this truth inEphesians 4:14-16: "Then we will no longer be
infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by
every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of men in
their deceitful scheming. Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will
in all things grow up into him who is the Head, that is, Christ. From
him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting
ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its
work." This fact is repeated once more in2 Peter 3:17-18: "Therefore,
dear friends, since you already know this, be on your guard so that you
may not be carried away by the error of lawless men and fall from your
secure position. But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and
Savior Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and forever! Amen." These
passages show us that growing in the knowledge of Christ will preserve
us from faith-destroying error.
Of course, knowledge alone will
not produce a Christlike character. The knowledge we gain from God’s
Word must impact our hearts and convict us of the need to obey what we
have learned.Romans 12:1-2tells us emphatically that the process of
filling our minds with the knowledge of God not only brings us closer to
Christlikeness, but obedience to that knowledge aligns us with the
perfect will of God: "Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's
mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to
God—this is your spiritual act of worship. Do not conform any longer to
the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your
mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is—his
good, pleasing and perfect will."
The natural consequence of
knowing and obeying God is that He becomes greater and greater, while we
become less and less as we yield control of our lives to Him. Just as
John the Baptist knew that “[Jesus] must increase, but I must decrease”
(John 3:30), so the Christian grows to reflect more of Christ and less
of his own nature. Luke sums it up best when he describes what Jesus
told His disciples: "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself
and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever wants to save
his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will save it"
(Luke 9:23-24). The cross was an instrument of death, and Jesus
encourages us to take up our cross in order to put to death our old sin
nature upon it. God wants us to forget about this world and all its
temporary pleasures and be obedient to His Word. Jesus is the living
Word (John 1:1), and the Bible is God's written Word. Therefore,
conforming to the Word of God is conforming to Christ.
It is
important to realize that becoming more like Christ starts by receiving
Him as Savior from our sins. Then we grow in our knowledge of God by
reading the Bible daily, studying it, and being obedient to what it
says. This process causes us to grow and occurs over an entire lifetime
in Christ. Only when we have entered Heaven for eternity with God does
this process reach its culmination.
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