So You Call Yourself a Christian?

What exactly does it take to be a Christian?  Does saying, "I'm a Christian" really make you one?  Should our words and actions be taken into account when we claim Christ, or does the proclamation alone suffice? 

It is no secret that many Christians have been turned off to church.  Usually something has happened that makes them rebel against the Christian community and it can usually be summed up in one word - hypocrite.  Most Christian churches are communities of hypocrites but we cannot admit it because we cannot see it within ourselves.  It is tough to look at ourselves in the mirror without bias or denial and see who and what we are with any clarity.  But the question is, does claiming Christ require that we act differently, talk differently, walk differently and love differently?  The answer is a resounding, "Yes!"  Most Christians would agree, and yet we struggle at times to even speak to each other with civility, let alone love. That glance in the mirror, even though we now see dimly,  should glaring show us the deep changes that are required in the very core of our beings to talk and act as Christ would desire.  

What if, after claiming Christ for years or decades, we don't change?  What if we still continue to act entirely out of our own sense of "rightness" and self-importance, never looking back at the bodies of the faithful we've trampled beneath us as we pursue our desire to "live out" Christ's call to us?  If we work in the church, volunteer in the church, or simply come to church, some change should be evident, somewhere, somehow, sometime, to somebody.  So often it isn't.  Why?  

A church filled with people who hear the word of God preached weekly but never listen to that word becomes an unsafe place.  Actually listening to the word, the Good News of Jesus Christ, should change us, unquestionably.  That change should not even require conscious action on our part - the word alone is powerful enough to change us if we really listen and absorb it.  The power of Christ's love for us all, the promise of real life regardless of the world, and the realization of the presence of the Kingdom here and now should be enough to transform us, if not immediately, then certainly after years or decades of establishing a relationship with God.  What does it mean when it doesn't happen?

Perhaps the preaching isn't good enough, perhaps the written word is incapable of penetrating a bivouacked mind, perhaps the church's milieu is a barrier to change.  I could spend hours listing reasons, however, the blame lies in only one place - the individual who hears the word but doesn't listen, the one who claims he is a Christian but acts like the world. 

The early church required change in a person.  Catechism was at least a year long and if your words and actions did not reflect your profession, you were not permitted to join the community of Christians.  Either you stayed for additional study and instruction, or if you persisted in your former ways and did not take up the yoke of Christ, you were sent away.  The catechism required dedication, persistence, obedience, hard work and time.  Time to ingest what you were learning.  Time to transform.  Proclaiming that you were a Christian meant that you were now a different person, reborn into a being unlike your previous self.  Saying you were a Christian really meant something.  

Unfortunately, that's not the case today.  Anyone who wants to can hang a cross around their neck and say they are Christian.  But the world knows that actions speak louder than words.  I wish we had a faith-o-meter to see if a person really was transformed, or better yet, a love-o-meter.  If you score low you are not permitted to join the community of Christians.  You could still come to church, to learn and grow, but then at least your un-Christian words and actions would not turn people off or turn people away because those words and actions would be expected.  If your love-o-meter scored high you would be permitted to join the community of faith and be expected to act as one, to live as one, to be Christ in the world - even to those who are different or who you don't like.  If you don't or can't, you're booted out for retraining.  No questions.  

What would the church be like if we really walked the talk?  What would the world be like?  

They would both be transformed, just as we should be transformed.  If you say you are a Christian but still act like you are of the world of non-Christians, something is wrong.  Really wrong.  Don't go looking to place the blame on others.  The blame is yours.  Do something about it.  Seek the transformation that eludes you.  Read the Bible, listen to preaching, hang out with real Christians, pray, pray, pray, meditate, read and pray some more.  Examine yourself.  Get counseling if you need to.  Do whatever it takes so that when you say you are a Christian, people can see that Christ lives within you, that you are, to the best of your ability, Christ in the world.  If you speak and act as a non-Christian, then you're not one, regardless of what you claim to be.  Claiming Christ is not lip service to the world.  Claiming Christ is real, deep, meaningful, and is the most important thing in your life, hands down, without question.  Pursue Christ as if he is the only thing that gives you purpose, life and breath.  Because he is.  Pursue Christ because you are tired of your old, crappy, meaningless life, because Christ is the only one who can give your life meaning and purpose.  But whatever you choose, by God, don't say you're a Christian if you can't act like one.  Don't take others down with you.