To Be a Christian

Today I'll share with you a thought I received in my Grace Gems daily e-mail feed (http://www.gracegems.org/). It's worth pondering.


Are we in reality--what we are in name?

(Samuel Davies, "The Sacred Import of the Christian Name")

"The disciples were first called Christians at Antioch." Acts 11:26

We call ourselves Christians--but do we really understand the MEANING and sacred import of that name? Do we really know what it is to BE Christians indeed? Are we in reality--what we are in name? Certainly it is time for us to consider the matter!

What is it to be a Christian?

To be a Christian, in the popular and fashionable sense, is no really difficult or excellent thing. It is to be baptized, to profess the Christian religion; to believe, like our neighbors, that Christ is the Messiah, and to attend upon public worship once a week, in some church or another. In this sense, a man may be a 'Christian'--and yet be habitually careless about eternal things. He may be a 'Christian'--and yet fall short of the morality of many of the heathen. He may be a 'Christian'--and yet a drunkard, a swearer, or a slave to some vice or other. He may be a 'Christian'--and yet a willful, impenitent offender against God and man.

But is this to be a 'real Christian'--in the original and proper sense of the word? No! that is something of a very different and superior kind.

To be a Christian indeed--is to be like to Christ, from whom the name is taken!

To be a Christian indeed--is to be a follower and imitator of Christ!

To be a Christian indeed--is to have Christ's spirit and temper; and to live as He lived in the world!

In short, to be a Christian, is to have our sentiments, our character and our practice, formed upon the sacred model of the gospel.