What being a Christian means to me is first and foremost believing Jesus is the Son of God, and He died to save people from their sins. Being a Christian means a person believes Jesus is the only way one may be forgiven of their sins and receive eternal life.
What makes someone a Christian is his or her faith, not deeds. If someone is a Christian, he or she will continually be conformed to the likeness of God’s one and only Son, who was perfect.This does not mean Christians will ever be perfect on earth, but we will mature as Christians more and more over time as the Holy Spirit convicts us and as we continue to live for God’s purpose. Being a Christian also means we surrender to God’s will, and we stop living for ourselves in our sinful nature and instead live to glorify God. Once a person has accepted Jesus into their heart as Lord and Savior, that person is dead to sin, and forever saved.
If a person is never convicted to change their sinful behaviors and attitudes, I would question whether or not that person is a Christian. As Christians, we should most certainly obey God’s instruction to share the gospel with everyone, as Jesus instructed in the Great Commission. I do not believe doing good deeds makes one a Christian, but doing good deeds and putting others first is certainly a result of being a Christian. I also do not believe that anyone who is saved will not be convicted by the Holy Spirit to live for God.After all, we were made to glorify Him, the One who made us. The most important thing we as Christians are to show towards others is love.
Love is what binds all other fruits of the Spirit together. Even if we have faith that can move mountains, if we have not love, we are nothing. How much could we really serve, obey, and do God’s will if we do not love Him, others, and ourselves? My guess is not much. The Bible continually exhorts us to love others, Christians and Non-Christians, but above all to love God.
This is clearly seen when Jesus states that the greatest commandment is to love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your mind and with all your soul, and that the second greatest commandment is similar to the first: Love your neighbor as yourself. Once again, this is not what makes someone a Christian, because even non-believers can love others, but loving others is most definitely a result of being a Christian, since we obey God’s commands after we are saved, and with Christ’s love filling us, we are enabled to love all the more.What makes us Christians is our acceptance of Christ’s freely given gift of salvation by simply believing in the only Name given from heaven for which to be saved, and that is Jesus. Lastly, being a Christian to me means I am saved from eternal punishment, and I will never have to worry about whether or not I am going to heaven or not after I pass on from this world.
Being a Christian means I can say with 100% confidence that I will be with God after my physical body dies, both then and forevermore.
