Story-Line

If you met as many people as I meet in airports, or airplanes, and struck up a conversation with them regarding their spiritual lives you’d hear all kinds of views of what a Christian is today. Many would say that they feel as though they’re a Christian because they are a “good person.” Others would respond that they attend a church occasionally, or that they were baptized, christened, or dedicated to the Lord as an infant. These are just a few responses that I’ve heard, but the Lord knows that they are many others that could be noted but we do not have enough space here to list them all. However, the “bottom line” is, what does God’s Word define as to what is a real Christian? The following is just a brief explanation regarding this important matter. First of all, if anyone wants to be considered a Christian they are going to have to:

The word “entreat” means to invite, beg, bid, petition, pester, enjoin, encourage, invite, insist, call, or ask. This means that Christ wants us to “ask Him” to come into our lives and become our personal Lord & Savior. The Bible reminds us in Romans 3:23 that, “We’ve all sinned, and have come short of the glory of God.” And Romans 6:23 that, “ The wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Then in Romans 10:13 we are told the “Good News” that, “Anyone who calls upon the Name of the Lord will be saved!” Glory to God! This is where the Christian life begins….in Christ. We’re adopted into the family of God and our Christian life has begun! We’re “Born Again” and claim the Name of Christ in our life! However again, He has to be “invited” into our lives otherwise, we are not entitled to claim that we are a Bible-believing Christian.

This simply means that in our attitudes, actions, character, conduct, integrity, and compassion, we live in a way that honors and glorifies Him in our witness and testimony. Someone once said that, “We are the only Bibles that people will read.” And as Christians, if we’re going to “talk the talk”, then we need to “walk the walk.” This can only happen in a Spirit-Filled life. If we are going to be successful in “Exhibiting Christ” in all that we say, think, or do, then the Blessed Holy Spirit must rule and reign, in His fullness, in our hearts and our “witness” is a result of the “overflow” of God’s Presence, Purity, and Power in my life of Christlikeness! Recently Marti and I attended Denver 1^st Church to worship with our son Greg, wife Michelle, and granddaughter’s Bella and Sofia. Pastor Shane Siegfreid (and his precious wife Sherri) made us feel so welcomed, and the message he preached that morning was so good. In his final remarks he said that the greatest evidence of a Christian being “Spirit-filled” is His Love flowing through us to others. I, totally, agree. Oswald Chambers in his daily devotional My Utmost For His Highest (which I’ve read almost every day for 36 years), said in the May 11^th devotional the following. He, reminded us what John 15:12 says that we as Christians are to “Love one another, as I have loved you.” He stated that God will bring a number of people around you whom you cannot respect, but…you must exhibit my love to them, just as I have exhibited it to you. He then stated the following challenge, “Am I prepared to be identified so closely with the Lord Jesus that His life and His sweetness will be continually poured out through me? Neither natural love nor God’s Divine love will remain and grow in me unless it is nurtured. Love is spontaneous, but it has to be maintained through discipline.” Wow! “And now these three remain faith, hope, and love. But the greatest of these is love” (I Cor. 13: 13).

Matt.6:33