SINNERS, BELIEVERS AND CHRISTIANS

“But God commendeth his own love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us” – Rom 5:8

Who is a sinner? According to the bible – NOBODY! Sinners existed before Christ but from the time Jesus died and rose, sinners ceased to exist. They simply went extinct!

The bible says “By which will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all” Heb 10:10. The word here is “ONCE FOR ALL” He doesn’t die every time a soul accepts Him as savior. NO! More than 2,000 years ago, He died and enveloped the whole world in a blanket of forgiveness. It is when you accept that that it becomes real to you but it doesn’t change the fact that He had already forgiven you ages ago.

Let me put it like this, if someone pays for a holiday cruise for you, as in pays all the bills, then you choose not to eat on the ship, does that mean the meal hasn’t been paid for? If you start eating on the fourth day of the cruise, does that mean the bill was just paid on the fourth day?

Christ has already paid the bill in full but we have to believe that fact and accept it and start ‘eating’ up for us to enjoy. That is when you become a believer.

You grow into Christianity. Look at the first time the word Christian was used in the bible – “And it came to pass, that even for a whole year they were gathered together with the church, and taught much people, and that the disciples were called Christians first in Antioch” Acts 11:26. It was when the group of disciples and believers became so much like Christ in their behavior and ways and teachings that people saw it and started calling them ‘CHRISTIANOS’ meaning ‘followers of Christ’

You become a Christian when you become like Christ. Free of every limitation and restriction. When you are full and complete. It is when you become ‘god’ on earth like Christ was. Above every situation and impossibility.

The believer has life, the Christian has abundant life!

So technically and biblically, I’m a believer not a Christian. But that’s okay. I will grow and mature into Christianity. That’s why the Christian life is a journey. With God, you crawl, stumble, limp, walk, fall, run, fly, crash till you are firmly rooted. It is a life measured in steps not time. It’s a journey that can be short or long depending on our willingness, submission and obedience.

I will get to full maturity but in the mean time I’m having a blast honeymooning with Christ as a believer!

WHY I LOVE BEING A CHRISTIAN

“The greatest of these is love” - 1Co 13:13

UNCONDITIONAL LOVE! That’s just it. I can be who I am; who I want to be; who I should be and it won’t make a single tittle bit of difference to God. He loves me as I am. He accepts me as I am. He blesses me as I am.

I smoke, I drink, I have sex (that means fornication), and I swear, I have a temper, I have a bitchy tongue and I’m a Christian! Odd? Yes, according to so called Christian standards but to God – THAT’S MY DAUGHTER!

What I do does not and cannot change who I am. I am the beloved of His heart, His child. God loves me regardless of all the ‘sins’ I commit.

How many of us yearn to be loved for who we are exactly as we are? That can only be found in Christ. He is the only one who accepts us unconditionally.

I talk to the Holy Spirit of everything and He answers me. I tell Him of my day and deeds (including all my sins) and he listens. I tell Him of every thought and idea and plan whether ‘good’ or ‘bad’ and He hears me. ALWAYS!

My life never affects our relationship. God is my dad and I am his daughter!

I get angry at Him, I question Him, I sulk and throw tantrums and He is still my loving Father. He disciplines and punishes me just like my biological father. I don’t get away with all my crap but that’s what being a child to a good father is about.

I don’t pretend to Him because there’s no need to. Why would I lie to someone who loves me regardless (apart from the fact that He knows it all anyway)

And then a wonderful thing happens. When you have such unconditional, irrepressible, visible, obvious, open, loving love, it starts changing you. You begin to respond in kind. You start wanting to BE that love. You want to live up to His expectations. You want to make Him happy always. Then you realize you are changing.

Not a false change but a deep inner change that creeps up on you. You just realize one day that you are different in a wonderful way. That is the power of love.

God’s love treats us the way we should be not the way we are. He sees the greatness in us through the pettiness we show. He knows who we are not what we portray. He sees the creativity in our imaginatively wicked acts. He sees the passionate drive in our selfish motives. He sees the hunger for survival in our stampede of the weak. He believes in us. And He loves us!

WHY I BELIEVE IN JESUS

“I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God” Acts 8:37

Please note that I am not trying to tell you why you should believe in Jesus. I am simply telling you why I believe. My answer is pretty simple and straightforward – because of FAITH! I know many people are going to think “here we go again with Christianity!” but the truth is that every single human on this earth lives on faith. We go to sleep with plans for the next, forgetting that there is no guarantee we will actually wake up the next day; we wake up and go about our day with plans to round up and go home to rest; we go home certain our houses will still be where we left them etc. We simply believe! Why do we assume these things if not for faith?

It takes as much faith not to believe in God as it does to believe in him (probably more). Believing in Science also requires faith just as believing in religion does. The only difference is that I chose to put my faith in Christ.

We are creatures of faith whether we accept it or not. Faith is logical. There is something in each of us that has to believe in something. We can believe God is not real or believe Christianity is fake or believe in what we can prove or believe in facts and theories or believe philosophy or principles, anything! That word “believe” is FAITH.

When you say ‘I believe in ………….’, you are saying ‘I have faith in ………’ or you say ‘I don’t believe in …………’, you are saying ‘I don’t have faith in ………….’

Whether we acknowledge it or not, faith is very much a part of us. So, what then do you believe in? Or maybe I should put it like this – What do you have FAITH in?

I have faith in God, faith in Jesus Christ, faith in the Holy Spirit. Of all the million things I can believe ………. sorry, have faith in, I choose to have faith in Christ. And every day since I believed, He has proved my faith in him.

You want proof? Then “taste and see”. The why and how can only be explained in experiencing it. If you were once a Christian and now you are out of it and against what you once believed, I can assure you a hundred percent without an iota of doubt that you were never a Christian, you just subscribed to a Christian doctrine. There is no one who can ever experience what salvation really is and go back. It’s just not possible! That much I can stake my life on.

You want proof of my faith, then enter it and get your proof! You think you can preach and prove Christianity is false? Whatever you say is gist because “for the kingdom of God is not in words but in power” – 1 Cor 4:20. I don’t argue Christianity, I show it! Not with dos and don’ts or laws and grace but with my everyday life. Complete with all its rust and dirt and imperfections. Christianity is not seen in holiness and perfection; it is seen in everyday, ordinary and normal lives.

So if you want to know why I chose to put my faith in Christ, watch my life and have an idea then taste Christ and understand.