Are You Really A Christian?

Am I really a Christian? A challenge for all Christians.

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Credit: IMBeggar

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Chapters:

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1. Introduction

2. Mercy

3. Anger

4. Poor

5. Afflicted

6. Sorrow

7. Unhappy

8. Insults

9. Serve

10. Meditate

11. Poor / Rich

12. Soul

13. Conscience

14. Hope

15. Conclusion

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Introduction

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I recently found myself super irritated with someone, and I just happened to glance into something I was reading, and I noticed this tiny little paragraph at the bottom of the page that started off with he is a Christian who.

Now that tiny little paragraph was such a punch in the gut because I realised pretty quickly I wasn't being a very good Christian, like all around.

Now it was written in the year 300 something by one of the greatest minds of Christianity, Saint Augustine. I don't care what church you belong to; this guy had an influence on it, and it's just 14 short little phrases that I'm going to go through as quick as possible. For those of us who go around calling ourselves so-called Christians, this is a challenge, and I hope it's not as big of a punch in the gut for you as it was for me.

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Mercy

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He or she is a Christian who's merciful to all.

Now I don't care who you are; we all need God's mercy, and the way it works is to be merciful to others, as we want God to be merciful to us.

Now think of how many times I've screwed up, made mistakes, turned my back, and just walked away from God, and every single time God has been patient, understanding, gentle, and forgiving.

Now to be merciful is to be like God, so am I patient, understanding, gentle, and forgiving?

Not just to the people I like but to all.

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Anger

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He or she is a Christian who does not get angry for an injury.

This is the one that hit me apart because, like I said, I caught myself getting super angry with someone for something so small and stupid. A barometer for the state of my soul is how do I react to every little annoyance in life?

If I find myself getting angry, super irritated, or just flying off the hook for every little thing. Those are all just symptoms for something being off in my soul. Now how we react to all those little things is just a choice.

If we're taking our baptism seriously, this is the old self that has to be put to death because only then can we rise again as something new.

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Poor

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He or she is a Christian who gives aid to the poor.

How do I feel when I hear that? Now we all know the story of the rich man and Lazarus. What was the rich man's sin?

Indifference. He was too self-absorbed in his own world to see his neighbour right next to him who needed help. Sound familiar? As Christians, we have to be able to see our neighbours in need and then go to them.

Yes, it's the materially poor; the Bible is clear on that, but also the poor in tenderness, companionship, love, kindness, and in just basic dignity. We're all poor in some way.

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Afflicted

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He or she is a Christian who suffers with the afflicted.

Now if you're anything like me, and maybe this is a guy thing, but we like to be the fixer, the solver, the saviour, and that's all fine, but sometimes we just see a problem that needs to be fixed and we don't see the person.

So go to those who are struggling, but before trying to fix it, just see the person and just imagine that whatever it is they're going through, you're going through the exact same thing.

Compassion means with suffering, so just be there with their suffering, and then you figure out the solutions together.

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Sorrow

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He or she is a Christian who participates in the sorrows of others as though they were his own.

Imagine you're standing in the crowd that day. Witnessing all the cruelty and the brutality and

A soldier points at you and says, Get over there and help him with his cross. What would you do?

I hope I would fly to that cross. Now in the exact same way, when we see others carrying their problems, their burdens, and their sorrows, just picture this and then fly to that thing.

Let's go out there and find each other's crosses, bear one another's burdens, and fulfil the law of Christ.

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Unhappy

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He or she is a Christian who does not shut his door on the unhappy.

Imagine you have one of those open-door houses where everyone—friends, neighbours, whoever—just loves coming and going. You have a lot of friends who come from very broken houses, broken families, and they come by, and you would make them pizza or sandwiches and give them rides when they're embarrassed because their own parents wouldn't give them a ride anywhere, and they would leave feeling a little more special, a little more loved, and a little happier.

Now think of someone who's struggling or unhappy. It shouldn't be very hard because we're all unhappy with something and ask ourselves, Am I that open door where anyone feels comfortable coming or going and maybe can get a pizza and a sandwich and leave feeling a little more special, a little more loved, and a little happier?

Where's my door mostly closed?

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Insults

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He or she is a Christian who doesn't insult anyone.

Now I know you're thinking. Yeah, I don't go around insulting people all day, but take a mental note of how many times you insult, mock, criticise, judge, or just make fun of somebody throughout the day.

I'm not just talking about it out loud; I'm talking about it on the inside, in my mind and under my breath, where only myself and God hear. I hope you're not as shocked as I was.

Now think of Jesus mocked, criticised, humiliated, and slandered. How did he respond? He returned no insult, and if he said anything, he answered gently.

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Serve

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He or she is a Christian who serves God day and night.

Who or what do I serve day and night? Who or what do I worship day and night? When I look back, what's the one thing I've traded my life for?

I know some of you are thinking well yeah, but I gotta work and pay my bills and support myself and serve my family, but look at it this way: we serve who we love the most, and Jesus said unless you love me more than these, you're not worthy of me.

Now whoa, I know that sounds kind of heavy, but I kind of like it. The King of the universe wants that first spot in my heart, and once we give it to him, everything else just seems to fall into place and really unlocks the true way we're supposed to love and serve all these things.

They may be thinking well, what does that mean to serve God? Does that mean I got to work at some church the rest of my life?

It means we've become the person on this list, and we do that through our work, through our families, and through our lives.

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Meditate

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He or she is a Christian who continuously meditates on his ways.

What occupies my mind throughout a day?

Being a Christian simply means we're followers or imitators of Christ, and this isn't something we

Just do it blindly. We have to choose it every day, and if we're going to choose to follow anyone, we first have to get to know them, and the more we know them, the more we believe in them. The more we believe in them, the more we're like, I love this guy; I'll follow Him until the day I die.

Now Jesus says if you know me, you know the Father, and the Father knows you, and he says if you love me, you love the Father, and the Father loves you just as he loves me, meaning Himself.

Now just let that sink in a little bit. God the Father loves me just as he loves his son.

I mean, the more we can grasp that I'm telling you this, this is what changes our lives, but in order to really know him, we have to get to know him through the scriptures, and in order to really love him, Jesus says if you love me, keep my commands, my word, and my ways.

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Poor / Rich

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He or she is a Christian who's poor in the eyes of the world but rich in the eyes of God.

There's a certain way we can live our lives and make our day-to-day choices that's very pleasing to God, and there's a certain way we can live our lives and make our day-to-day choices that's very pleasing to the world.

I think, as we all know, especially now more than ever, the two don't always align. Actually, they can sometimes be the exact opposite. Now, as Christians, as hard as this may be, there's really only one

that we care about, and the world's going to think we're fools, and they're right, we are fools.

Fools for Christ. - 1 Corinthians 4:10

What does that mean? Well, Saint Paul says it means when we're vilified, we bless when we're persecuted, we endure when we're slandered, we answer gently, and when the whole world rolls their eyes at us, we respond with goodness. Then we're rich in the eyes of God.

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Soul

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He or she is a Christian whose soul is simple and upright.

If I were to look into my soul right now, what would I see?

Simple, upright, or is it a dark, tangled mess of pain and confusion that's barely alive? Our soul is what gives life to the body and the mind, so if our soul's off, we're going to feel it. Usually in the form of that deep emptiness or restlessness, but if our soul's all good, we're going to feel that too, always in the form of peace.

Now if you look inside a simple soul, you only find three things: goodness, love, and truth. An upright soul stands up for three things: goodness, love, and truth, and goodness, love, and truth is simply what we call God.

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Conscience

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He or she is a Christian whose conscience is faithful and pure.

Our conscience is that thing deep down inside that lets us know if the thing we're thinking of doing, in the process of doing or already done, is good or bad. We're going to know because we're going to feel it. Either with inner peace or inner conflict.

Now pure conscience echoes only the voice of God. A faithful conscience listens, but we ignore it, and the more we ignore it, the weaker it gets; the weaker it gets, the more it opens up the door for other voices to come in and take over. We call this a corrupt conscience.

So the hard questions we all have to ask are: who is my conscience faithful to, and am I faithful to my conscience? We're all trying to get closer to God. Jesus said blessed is the pure of heart, for they shall see God.

It all starts with a pure conscience.

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Hope

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He or she is a Christian whose spirit rests in God and places all its hopes in Christ.

This is my go-to throughout the day. Ask yourself, in times of total desolation, where do I turn?

We're all tired, we're all struggling, and we all need some hope on something. Try this; just take that thing, whatever it is that's giving us anxiety stress that we need hope on, and just hold it in your heart.

Now just release it. Let it go. Hand it over to him and just watch it slowly disappear into his heart and say, I know you can do all things, but let your will not my will be done.

Then say nothing else; that's it, and just rest with him. We waste so much time and energy with our overthinking. This takes tremendous amounts of trust, but it is the way to peace.

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Conclusion

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In fine or totality, he or she is a Christian who prefers the treasures of Heaven to those of Earth and turns his back on the world in order to unite himself totally to God.

If you had the choice right now between all the treasure the world has to offer and all the treasure God has to offer, which would you choose? Then ask yourself, which one of these do I think will bring me more peace? In which one is more anxiety, which one of these do I think leads to freedom and which one to slavery, and which one of these do I strive for with all my being, and which one do I think I can rely on more?

Now here's the thing. We can only choose one because, as Jesus said, where your treasure is, so will your heart be, and it can't be in two places at once. Everything God has he wants to give to us, but it's not until we abandon and totally empty ourselves to the one that we can be filled up with the other.

Now I know some of us are thinking. Yeah, but I really want and need that other stuff. He knows. To me, this is the most fundamental question of our faith and our lives.

So after all that, there's only one more question to ask:

Am I really a Christian?

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