What Being a Christian Means to Me

When you say you are a Christian, you are telling the world you claim the name of Christ, and the world holds you to a different set of standards. I think that you should also hold yourself to a different set of standards. When you claim the name of Christ and start to "talk the talk" then you should most certainly "walk the walk" - 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

The Bible tells us in 2: Corinthians 5:17 "Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new". This means that once you accept Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, if you truly accept Him as Lord, then you will want to change things in your life. You will want to become a new "creature" - a new person.

I've heard a lot of people say that they don't want to give their life to God because they are having too much fun and don't want to stop drinking, smoking, cheating, etc ... whatever they perceive to be sinful in their life that they think they will have to give up. Accepting Jesus as your Savior does not mean you "have" to change ... God doesn't "make" you change ... but God will burden your heart about certain things in your life that need to be changed. Then as you learn and grow in your love and devotion for God, you yourself will want to change in order to please God. You will want to live a life that is pleasing to God simply because you love Him.

I believe that is how to tell if someone truly does get "born again", converted, saved, has accepted Christ as their Savior, whatever terminology you want to use. You can tell the person is a true Christian because you will see a change in them. I have nothing against the Jesus bumper stickers, What Would Jesus Do bracelets, magnets shaped like a fish on your car ... these are all well and good (to take lines from a popular Christian song). But having these outward shows of Christianity isn't what matters. What matters is that your heart changes, your actions change, and your lifestyle changes. These changes do not happen over night, it's a work in progress, but you should be a steady change towards Christ-like behavior and thinking if you claim to be a Christian.