Thoughts

I was talking to an unexpected person yesterday. I have to admit I was surprised by the conversation and the fact that I actually enjoyed it. Funny how you think you know yourself and yet the slightest change can change your opinion or your outlook. The conversation kept me awake long after I had signed off and lied down to go to sleep. My mind was racing and I couldn't seem to quiet it enough to actually rest. There was one question that kept especially bugging me. What is a Christian? How would I describe what I believe to be a true Christian? There are so many people out there who identify with the Christian religion, but what is being a Christian actually all about? Well, I did some looking and some refreshing of my memory and I have an answer. It may not be all inclusive but it is a start at least. The Christians were first called such at Antioch. Christian is a Greek word that means little Christ. The disciples in Antioch acted so much like Jesus that the Greeks referred to them as little Christs. So, in order to be a Christian you should be acting like Christ, enough so that people can see it and recognize it as such. The only way to act just like Christ is to have His spirit living on the inside of you and controlling you. That means that we can't act like ourselves with a little bit of Jesus added in the mix; we have to allow Jesus to live through us so much so that people see Him and not us. Does that mean we become perfect like Jesus? No, and definitely not overnight, but there is hope for us. We can strive for the goal, as the apostle Paul said, to become like Jesus and to attain His goal for our lives; and it is Him in us, not ourselves that makes it possible to do this. Paul said it was Christ in Him that was the hope of glory. It wasn't Paul and his great abilities or his amazing spirituality. It was the fact that Christ resided in him and gave him the ability to attain all God had for him, and the same is true for us. In and of myself I am nothing, "In me dwelleth no good thing." But I have Jesus and He gives me the ability to live beyond my limits and achieve what God has for me, for with God all things are possible and we are more than conquerors through Christ Who is our strength. That's what being a Christian is all about - hope for life and living life abundantly just as God intended us to.