What A Christian isn’t defined by in God’s eyes ..
1. Trying harder
2. Managing sin
3. Living with integrity
4. Not cussing
5. Not smoking
6. Not drinking
7. Reading the Bible
8. Praying
9. Going to church
10. Participating in a small group
11. Submitting
12. Serving
13. Watching the company we keep
14. Believing “correct” theology
15. Having the perfect marriage
16. Having the perfect children
17. Staying faithful
18. Being responsible
19. Being a good citizen
20. Pretending to be someone or something we aren’t
21. Keeping a To Do list
22. Proving ourselves
23. Striving for perfection
24. Witnessing
25. Being good
26. Following the rules
27. Dressing modesty
28. Having a positive attitude
Just so you know, the reason the list is so long is for Trapper, because if I miss one he will most certainly point it out.
These are all great things. (BUT NOT REQUIERD), They are things most Christians strive for and are a good sign someone is Christian.
A Christian is defined by…
1. Running to Jesus and IMO, That’s it.
It is not what we do or don’t do (as good as some of those things above are). It is not a list. It is not a matter of doing. (that is why you can be saved right up to your last breath) It has already been done (“It is finished…”). It is a matter of being. It is a matter of who and Whose we are.
A Christian rests in Christ as his beloved daughter or son.
“God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, Let me say that again to redeem those who WERE UNDER THE LAW, (key word were) so that we might receive adoption as sons. And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, ‘Abba! Father!’ So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God” (Galatians 4:4-7).
It is living in Christ’s grace…in his unmerited favor. You can’t earn it.
It is walking life’s tightrope above the net of God’s unconditional love.
It is resting in the fact that…
There is absolutely nothing you can do to get God to love you one iota more than he already does…and there is absolutely nothing you can do to get God to love you one iota less.
It is all grace. Beginning to end.
