"Oh yes", she responded, "I am a Christian".
So I asked her how she knew she was a Christian. She told me of a church service she went to once where this "tingly" feeling came over her. But her story did not end there. She was invited by a friend to visit another church. The pastor looked right at the section she was in and said "Someone in this section has a loved one who is very ill." At first she was spooked but when no one got up she knew he was talking to her. She went forward and they prayed for the loved one. Then the pastor held her hands and she felt this surge of warmth come from him and go into her hands and then her arms. He instructed her to go and transfer this "healing power" to the person who was deathly ill. So she did. When the miraculous news came that her loved one's illness had vanished she knew that God was real.
Did this really happen? I don't know I wasn't there. Can God use humans in this fashion if it suits His purpose? The Bible says He can. So is this possible? "...all things are possible with God." Mark 10:27b
But my question to her was not about, was this experience real? The question in my mind was more about "why does this make her a Christian?" So I asked and she answered, "because, I now know God is real".
I leaned in and said "even the demons know God is real, that doesn't make them Christians". "You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that—and shudder." James 2:19
There was a time in my life when I would have also said I was a Christian. Simply because I was told, or taught, that I was. It was more a tradition than a reality. Something passed on to me from previous generations. I never made that choice for myself, even though I also "knew that God was real".
So what changed for me? I had to come to the end of myself. I had to understand my personal need for a Savior. I now know I am Christian. I know I am forgiven and that some day I will be with God in heaven. Am I perfect? FAR FROM IT! But something changed the day I understood who Jesus Christ was and what He did on that cross. My life has never been the same.
Christianity is not about being better than others. It is about dying to self. Something I'm still learning. It is not about a single experience. It is about a lifetime. When a person accepts Christ as Lord and Savior, their own life should be markedly different.
I believe that what I do in the here and now has eternal consequences. My life began at conception, became meaningful at conversion, and will not end at death.
My faith has taken me to places I would never have imagined. To the edge of the cliff, to the highest mountain tops, to the deepest valleys, beside the calmest streams, across angelic meadows, and through it all I have known a peace that surpasses understanding.
Many question the Christian faith. I think that is because it is vastly misunderstood. Humans have messed it up to the point that it is often unrecognizable. I have met lots of people who claim to be Christian, and even believe they are. Yet hate and ugliness spews from them. I cannot judge their hearts or their eternal destiny. That is between them and God. But the actions of some who loudly profess their faith, and yet live a lifestyle that looks no different than those who do not follow Christ, can become a stumbling block to an unbelieving world.
God asks His people to be "in the world" not "of it". To be "set apart". To be "holy". Christians should not just "act" different, they need to BE different. This happens on the inside and can be visibly seen on the outside. It should not repel people away, it should encourage others to seek what they have found.
The woman I started this blog with, claimed to be Christian because of an experience. Yet, her lifestyle and her life choices did not match the faith she claims to hold. Sadly, this is not an isolated case. I see this all too often. I am not discounting "experiences". I'm just concerned that if we rely only on an experience we will easily be led away by the next experience.
I am Christian, and I am still learning to be Christian. I am a work in progress.
