What does it mean to be a Christian? There have been many answers over the centuries, some of which contradict each other. Some of the most common answers today include:

* It means I’m going to heaven.
* It means I have a personal relationship with Jesus.
* It means living by the Ten Commandments, Golden Rule, or some other subset of the Bible.

All these are (partly) true. A Christian is going to heaven, does have a relationship with Christ, and (according to both Jesus and the Apostle John) obeys the commandments of the Bible. Yet, I would like to suggest that none of those is at the core of what it means to be a Christian. All of those are (or should be) a result of salvation. The Pharisees followed the rules, but Jesus called them whitewashed tombs. Many claim to have a relationship with Christ, but show no evidence of the fruit of the Spirit.

When Christ saves a person, what He does first is fundamentally change his or her nature and identity. Whereas before I was dead because of sin, struggling to live life my own way, hostile to God and His way, now I am fundamentally different. I now long to not only obey God but know Him. Whereas before I thought of myself first (and often only of myself), now I desire to place others first. Do I always do that? No. We must learn to do that. The desire is there. We must nourish those godly desires and starve the desires of the flesh. But again, the desire to be transformed into the image of Christ is there. If one claims to be saved, yet has no interest in knowing Christ, becoming like Him, or obeying Him, that claim of salvation is highly suspect.

What does that all mean? It means, in particular, that I desire to obey the commands of God, not only to please my Heavenly Father, but more centrally because it is who I am. I desire to know Christ and become like Him because of the new nature within me. This idea is not new. The Old Testament predicted these very concepts. If you don’t believe me, look it up.

….or just read the next blog post. 🙂