Am I a Christian?

What does it mean to be a Christian? If you were to take a random survey of people on the street and ask them if they are Christian, chances are you would get an affirmative response. According to the 2008 American Religious Identification Survey (ARIS)1, 76% of Americans identify themselves as Christian. Although that is down 10% from 1990, a vast majority of people still profess to be Christian. However, if you ask those same people to explain what Christianity is or what the essential Christian doctrines are, you will get a potpourri of vague answers and shrugged shoulders! Why? Because although we profess Christianity, we do little or nothing to understand what it really means.

I am willing to bet that most of us have a bible in our homes. When was the last time we actually sat down to read and understand it? What about church attendance? Nearly 43% of Americans attend church services regularly2. While that may seem like a generous amount, those same attendees are the folks having a hard time answering the questions about the meaning of their faith. So what does this all mean? It means that something as important as our faith is relegated to such a small space in our lives that it hardly matters to us that we don’t know the things we should know.

We cannot take comfort in the fact that we go to church, or that we identify ourselves as Christians. Hosea 4:6 tells us that “people are destroyed for lack of knowledge”. Jesus himself said “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened.” Matthew 7:7-8. We must be active in our search and understanding of the truth! And what is this truth we seek? It is the truth of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. This is the first and most important truth we must understand. Jesus Christ, God in human flesh, willingly came here to be our savior and reconcile us to God. He did this by living a sinless life and then sacrificing His perfect life so that He could pay for all of our sins and thereby put us in a right relationship with God. A just man (the only one that ever lived) and the Son of God, was the only one who could have done this. This He did willingly because of His love. And to prove that He was indeed the Son of God, after his crucifixion, he arose three days later to prove His power over death. Salvation is God’s free gift to a dying and sin sick world. This is the Gospel message that we must believe if we are to be called Christians. In fact, this is the only true way that we can be identified as Christian. Consider these passages:

Acts 4:12 says “Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved”

John 8:24 "Therefore I said to you that you will die in your sins; for if you do not believe that I am He, you will die in your sins."

1 Timothy 2:5 "For there is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus, who gave Himself a ransom for all ..."

John 14:6 Jesus said to him, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me."

John 5: 24 "Most assuredly, I say to you, he who hears My word and believes in Him who sent Me has everlasting life, and shall not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life."

Understanding the Gospel and believing it is the only way one can be classified as a true Christian. Baptism does not make you a Christian. Neither does communion, attending church or doing good deeds. If you never heard this before or if your pastor does not remind you of this on a regular basis, then I recommend you do something about it. First, read the bible for yourself. Read the Gospels and the rest of the New Testament first. Then, find a church where the Gospel (as I explained above) is being preached and taught. These are the most important things you will ever do in this life. The most important question you will ever be asked is ‘What have you done with Jesus Christ?” God will judge us based on not only how we respond to this question, but what we did in this life with His great gift! What does it mean to be a Christian? Make sure you can answer this question now!

S.T. Woods

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