What is a Christian?

What is a Christian?

I have had this topic on my heart for a very long time, waiting for the right moment to write about it. It's a difficult topic because almost everyone has a different opinion on it. When it comes to this topic though, opinions do not matter. There are facts that cannot be denied no matter what our own opinion may or may not be.

I posted on social media a quote..."If the Jesus you know hasn’t changed your life yet, you have met religion, not Jesus."

The latest Gallop Poll reports that 68% of Americans claim to be Christian. There are over 200 Christian Denominations in America and over 45,000 globally. Yet, each of these groups believe very different things and their practices vary immensely. So, who is right?

Some may ask, "What is the difference?". There is a vast difference. Religion is "an institutional system of religious attitudes, beliefs or practices. A principle or a system of beliefs."  A relationship is defined as the way two or more people are connected, or the way they behave toward each other. In my relationship with Jesus, I choose to live my life to please Him as I learn His ways. God's original intention was relationship with us, not religion.

Almost every Denomination we have today has different beliefs and practices yet all of them would call themselves Christian. Many who claim the title "Christian" are NOT Christians. Some believe in God but do not believe Jesus was His son and only way to heaven.

John 14:6, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. NO ONE comes to the Father except through me."

Some believe if they follow all their Denominations rules (religion) they are Christians and would go to heaven. God's Word itself says in James 2:19, " You say you have faith, for you believe that there is one God.[a] Good for you! Even the demons believe this, and they tremble in terror."

 It is not just a belief in God that matters. If it were, demons would be in heaven. It is corresponding action, learning what His Word says He asks of me then exchanging that for what He wants or says is truth. Spending time with Him in prayer, reading His Word, studying Scripture so that I know what He has written to me regarding our relationship.

 This is what turns my belief into a real relationship. 

 It was the same in Jesus' day. There were Pharisees, Sadducee’s, Galileans, Herodians, Levites, Publicans and more, all having different beliefs and practices, following the rule of Law (religion) rather than understanding God’s heart for me. In John 8:4 and 7 the religious men of the day had brought a woman to Jesus who had been caught in adultery. They were demanding he follow the Law concerning such an offence. But Jesus looks at her heart and says...

Vs. 7...They kept demanding an answer, so he stood up again and said, “All right, but let the one who has never sinned throw the first stone!”

Jesus called them "whitewashed tombs full of dead men’s bones" in Matthew 23:27. I don't think he was too impressed with their "religion". They wanted to point out her sin but ignore their own. They believed in God but had no relationship with Him.

Unless a belief system or a Denominations practices derive from God's word, they are not biblical, they are man-made, they are religion.

To know what beliefs are biblical you must know your Bible. It is God's Word to us to learn who He is, what He requires and how to live this Christian life. If you claim to be Christian but do not read and study your Bible, how can you be a Christian? How can I be a hair stylist unless I learn everything a stylist does and how they do it? Or a Surgeon, or a Piano player? How can I follow God but not know what He requires of me? That is simply information, it is not relationship.

John 1:1-3 NLT " In the beginning the Word already existed. The Word was with God and the Word was God. He existed in the beginning with God. God created everything through him,
 and nothing was created except through him. Vs. 14 says "So the Word became human and made his home among us."

God's word is God on paper.

Hebrews 4:12 says,

"It is alive and active, sharper than a two-edged sword, it penetrates to dividing of soul and spirit, joints and marrow: it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart."

Reading His word will change your entire life. It is life. It brings revelation and insight; it draws us closer to God. it convicts us of sin and leads us to repentance.

When I accept Jesus as my Savior, I am then responsible to read His Word, then conform my thoughts, actions, and beliefs to what it says. If I believe something and God's Word states the opposite, I must change because His Word never changes, nor can it be altered.

God never intended for us to come to Him in a religious way. He doesn't want our "works" He wants our heart. You can go to Church every Sunday and practice your Denominations rules, and never know God or have a relationship with Him.

Religion is transactional, relationship is personal and built on love and respect.

What if on the day that I married my husband, we had the "ceremony" (depicting religion or a transaction, a belief we are now married) but then after the reception and the cake I then went back home with my parents? Am I married? Or did I just have a transaction for the benefits? Do I still get to date other men and make my own plans?

I won’t stay married if that is how I act. Jeremiah 29:11, “For I know the plans I have for you,” says the Lord. They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.

But that is exactly what we do if after we choose to acept Jesus as Savior we then live however we want, let all other relationships come before our time with him and make plans for our life outside of that relationship.

I now have his name so I can get his money, his house, his stuff but I still have no intimacy, no relationship. This is religion.

I can say I know George Washington, because I have learned about his life and how he helped to establish this new Country.  But...I don't KNOW him. I have never spent time with him, I don't know what he liked or thought. I only know "of" him. That is not considered a relationship.

We were created for relationship with God. We are His sons and daughters. He desires to know us and for us to know Him, to share ourselves with Him on the deepest, most intimate level.

Intimacy is a close, familiar, usually affectionate loving personal relationship. I KNOW my husband in a way no one else does. We have shared our lives for 45 years, raised kids together, paid bills together, and have been intimate with each other. I know how he will react to things. I know what hurts him and what makes him feel loved. The knowing here comes from intimate relationship.

In the Bible the word KNOW is used 950 times. It means perceiving, learning, understanding, willing, performing, and experiencing. To KNOW is not to be intellectually informed about something (religion) but to apprehend and experience its reality. Knowledge is not the possession of information, but rather its exercise (doing).

We start our relationship with God by being born again. That simply means we accept personally what Jesus did on the Cross for us by shedding His perfect blood to pay for our sins. Jesus told Nicodemus, a Pharisee, how to be born again in John 3.

"Now there was a certain man among the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler (member of the Sanhedrin) among the Jews, 2 who came to Jesus at night and said to Him, “Rabbi (Teacher), we know [without any doubt] that You have come from God as a teacher; for no one can do these signs [these wonders, these attesting miracles] that You do unless God is with him.” 3 Jesus answered him, “I assure you and most solemnly say to you, unless a person is born again [reborn from above—spiritually transformed, renewed, sanctified], he cannot[ever] see and experience the kingdom of God.”

Knowing or believing something does not necessarily equate to salvation.

We ask him to come be the Lord /Ruler of our lives, we release the control and give him the right to rule in us. We choose him over everything else. Over what I think or was taught, what I want and how I feel about various topics.

When I got saved, everything changed as I read/studied His Word, went to Church, and got to know him. As I learned the Word, I learned what pleases him, what grieves his heart, what his plans for me were. I read it, listened to it, and prayed it. My habits began to change, my friends changed, my music changed, my whole life changed. I began to fill my life with Godly things and eliminated the things of this world. Things that I now saw did not line up with His Word, I had to change my belief to match His. Then I was filled with the Holy Spirit and water baptized. I was never the same.

If nothing changes, something is wrong.

Your heavenly Father longs in the deepest way to be known, to be experienced. He desires you. He hurts with you and feels joy when He sees you laugh. His depths are immeasurable. Whatever you think you know about Him, there is so much more. He paid a costly price for a relationship with you...won't you come? Come to Him fully surrendered, fully offering every part of yourself to Him. He has prepared a place for you and desires for you to share your joy, sadness, hurts and more. Come....come to the alter, His arms are open and waiting for YOU!

Father, I know that you love each and every person reading this Blog. I'm asking you to draw them to yourself. Woo their heart with the amazing love you have for them. Reveal yourself in the most personal way so that they see you. Help them Holy Spirit to take that leap of faith and trust that God has them and will never leave or forsake them. In Jesus name I am praying...amen.

(If you have additional questions or need prayer, please contact me at toreygoodson.com)