Identify As Christian

Identify As Christian by Bill Keller

Millions of people identify themselves as being a Christian. Are these people really born again believers who have accepted Jesus Christ by faith or do they identify themselves as "Christians" because they go to a Christian church, or because their parents are Christians, or simply to be part of the mainstream?

There is not a more important issue we can discuss since it has to do with the souls of people and where they will spend eternity.

A Christian, according to the Bible is a person who has made the conscious choice to accept Jesus Christ as Savior by faith, surrender his life to him, and follow Him. For a Believer, there can be no more important moment in life than when he got saved. Nobody who is truly born again, could ever forget that powerful moment in time when he made the decision to ask God to forgive him of all his sins and give his life to Jesus.

Now, I am afraid there is a large percentage of people who are part of local churches who call themselves Christians, yet have never had a new birth experience. The movement by most old mainline denominations towards a liberal theology, coupled with the seeker and emerging church movements, have watered down the Gospel, compromised Biblical Truth, left out sin, and gravitated to a social gospel dealing with issues like poverty, world hunger, diseases, and other social issues most decent people are concerned about. This has given people who are part of these churches the false sense of security that they are Christians because they are members of a church and, along with their church, they do “good works.”

BEING A MEMBER OF A CHURCH DOESN'T MAKE YOU A CHRISTIAN ANY MORE THAN STANDING ON A RUNWAY MAKES YOU AN AIRPLANE!

YOU AREN'T A CHRISTIAN BECAUSE YOU ARE THE MEMBER OF A CHURCH. YOU ARE A CHRISTIAN BECAUSE YOU HAVE MADE THE CONSCIOUS DECISION TO ACCEPT JESUS CHRIST INTO YOUR HEART AND LIFE BY FAITH!

LORD GOD of Heaven and Earth and all that exists, may everyone who hungers after truth in life and yearns to be with You for eternity discover the veracity of his need to place his life into the loving hand of JESUS.

May JESUS help each of us to die to our "self" daily and be fully alive to You and Your purposes. May each of us be truly born again into CHRIST'S eternal Kingdom and may we then resolve to share the love and salvation of our LORD and SAVIOR with every person whose life touches ours. It is in the mighty, matchless name of JESUS that we ask. Amen.