Everyone Who Believes

Chuckle: "A real Christian is a person who can give his pet parrot to a town gossip." --Billy Graham

Quote: "The Christian is one who has forever given up the hope of being able to think of himself as a good man (person)." --Leslie Newbigin

"We are made right in God's sight when we trust (have faith) in Jesus Christ to take away our sins. And we all can be saved in this same way, no matter who we are or what we have done" (Romans 3:22 NLT). Here, Paul gives a beautiful paraphrase of John 3:16, where Jesus said, "For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes (trusts, has faith) in him will not perish but have eternal life."

Genuine Christians are those who have acknowledged that Jesus Christ, as the Son of God, has paid the penalty for their sins on the cross. They have repented of their sins and their souls have been saved from eternal punishment by God's grace through their faith in Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord. They have made a conscious decision to entrust their lives into Christ's care and have accepted His forgiveness of their sins and granted Him complete Lordship over their lives. Jesus called this being "born again." A summary definition of a Christian is: one in whom Jesus dwells; one whose life Jesus controls; and one through whom Jesus is revealed.

I have heard many different answers to the question, "are you a Christian." One response is, I'm a Christian because someone close to me is a Christian. For example, "my father was a deacon." "Or, my parents raised me in a Christian home." I call this an attempt at "vicarious Christianity. Although one is more likely to be saved and become a Christian if reared in a Christian environment, living in a Christian home does not make you a Christian any more than standing in a garage makes you a car.

Becoming a Christian requires a transformation of a person by the power of the Holy Spirit. "What this means is that those who become Christians become new persons. They are not the same anymore, for the old life is gone, A new life has begun" (2 Corinthians 5:17 NLT). "And as the Spirit of the Lord works within us, we become more and more like him (Christ) and reflect his glory even more" (2 Corinthians 3:18 NLT).

Others think they are right with God if they do their best to live a good moral life and maybe even attend church services now and then. In other words, they think we are saved by what we do rather than by what Jesus did on our behalf. We live in a world where we work for what we receive and it's difficult for some to understand that we don't have to work for our salvation -- it is a gift from God. However, we do good works in obedience to God because we have been saved, not in order to be saved. "For we are God's masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ, so that we can do the good things he planned for us long ago" (Ephesians 2:10 NLT). If living a "good" life could save us, why did Jesus need to die?

Love, Jerry & Dotse