By Shannon Marshall

Ask most people the question, “Are you a Christian?” and they will give you the answer, “yes.” Ask them the follow up question, “why?”  and they answer what they have done. Acts 11: 26 reads, “And the disciples were first called Christians at Antioch.”  Are you a Christian? And why?

First, how would you define being a Christian. We usually define being a Christian off of tradition and theology. Both answers can be wrong. Tradition: we can’t explain why we do what we are doing we just do it. No one asks why we have flowers at weddings, why we have Spring and Summer revivals in our church, and the other things we do in church. We just do them without ever understanding why. Tradition is doing those things you saw them doing at church to be a Christian. Get baptized, join the church, stop doing all the sins you were doing. None of these listed things makes one a Christian. Theology: we define salvation from one of the metaphors about salvation.

Second, how would you defend being a Christian. You don’t have to understand every aspect of being a Christian before you become one, nor listen to how someone else defines a Christian before getting saved. I have been married for thirty-two years. When we stood at the altar, we didn’t know everything about one another, but we knew enough. Many defend being a Christian by making a profession of faith, getting baptized, and living a certain lifestyle. But that defense breaks down if one stops living the right way. We say they must not have truly been saved.

Third, how would you determine being a Christian. When asked “why”, being a Christian is not determined because you did this, and you stopped doing that. What determines you are a Christian? You trust Jesus. Because God and His grace included you in the greatest love story ever told. God gave you, His Son. God loved you and redeemed you. The Holy Spirit applied redemption to you. Jesus opened your eyes so that you could love Him more than your sin. Salvation is not what you did, but what God did. A Christian is not self-reliant but God reliant.