I have learned that the word Christian means different things to different observers.

The reason for this is that many who profess to be Christian do not reflect the true meaning of the word.  If you have followed my blog for any time at all, you know that I am not fond of denominations or any other kind of label we put on a group of people because people are individuals, and will align themselves with the doctrine of a group to different degrees, anywhere from cool,  to tepid,  to red hot fanatical.

The question “What is a Christian?” for me, first requires an exploration of the meaning of the word “Christian” and an assessment of  whether or not the doctrine is aligned with the meaning of the word.

In a sense, I am seeking to define what a Christian should be based on a pure definition.  So let’s look at the root word “Christ” and the suffix “ian”. Christ, according to the bible, is the Son of God who willingly came to join us in the flesh to reveal to us a living and loving God, and to be sacrificed  on our behalf.  The suffix”ian” or “an” indicates that someone or something belongs to a certain group. Thus, an Indian would be a resident of or someone who was born in India, a Faustian philosophy is one promoted by the character Faust, or one that reflects what Faust believed.  A Christian, then,  is a believer in or a follower of Christ, and a Christian philosophy would reflect what Christ believed.  More simply put, to be a Christian is to strive to be like Christ.  To be like Christ, we must first come to know Him.

Stop and think for a moment about the people you know.  We have acquaintances – people we know a little bit about, friends – people we know more about, family – people we have known all or most of our lives, spouses – people we are very intimate with.  The church is filled with the same degrees of relationship with Christ.  To some He is just an acquaintance, to others a friend,  but to succeed as Christians in becoming the bride of Christ as described in scripture, we will need to achieve a wide spread level of intimacy with Christ.

I recently studied a book by Richard Stearns titled “The Hole in Our Gospel“, which explores what Christ called the Church to be and do, and how the Church has fallen far short of that mark.  If we want to call ourselves Christians, the Truth is we need to raise the bar back up to where Christ set it.  If we are to achieve a level of intimacy with Him, it will be done His way, not ours.

¹ In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.  ² The earth was without form, and void; and darkness was on the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.  ³ Then God said, “Let there be light”; and  there was light.  Genesis 1:1-3 (NKJV)

There was nothing but darkness until God called light into being.  Thus creation began, and the earth, and everything on it and in it, belonged to God, and still does.  He entrusted it to us, with instructions from Christ.

³⁵ Then one of them, a lawyer, asked Him a question, testing Him, and saying, ³⁶ “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law?”  ³⁷ Jesus said to him, “‘You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ ³⁸ This is the first and great commandment.  ³⁹ And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’  ⁴⁰ On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.”  Matthew 22:35-40 (NKJV)

If we profess to be Christian, like Christ, then we must acknowledge that all that we possess, in Christ’s reality belongs to God. He has entrusted us with it and called us to love our neighbor as ourselves.  When you love someone, you share what you have with them… you desire them to be happy, healthy, comfortable, and to have opportunities to be blessed and to share their blessings with others.

God created the world with such abundance there is enough for everyone to have it all, but the stewards entrusted with the greatest abundance seem to have a problem with distributing that wealth and investing it in the children of God who were unfortunately born into a less fortunate circumstance.  The distribution of wealth worldwide is becoming ever more disproportionate, and Christians who are at the upper end of the spectrum have fallen into the ways of the world rather than following Christ.

According to PrisonPlanet.com, “Figures for mid-2010 indicate that 24.2 million adults are above the threshold for dollar millionaires. While they make up less than 1% of the global adult population, they own more than a third of global household wealth. More specifically, individuals with wealth above USD 50 million are estimated to number 81,000 worldwide.”

I found more interesting statistics at www.pastorrickypowell.com.

• Only one-third to one-half of U.S. church members financially support their churches.

• Christians worldwide had personal income totaling more than $16 trillion in 2007 but gave only 2 percent, or $370 billion, to Christian causes.

• Overall, only 3 to 5 percent of those who donate money to a church tithe (give 10 percent of) their incomes.

• Giving by North American churchgoers was higher during the Great Depression (3.3 percent of per capita income in 1933) than it was after a half-century of unprecedented prosperity (2.5 percent in 2004).

• Incomes have gone up nine to 10 times in the last 20 years while giving has gone down about 50 percent.

Based on those statistics, it is clear that those calling themselves Christians have taken the blessings of Christ for granted and sorely neglected His teachings.  They have taken what belongs to God and treated it as if it were theirs.  They hold on tightly to what they have, bottling up the abundance that would flow if only they would let go and allow God to fulfill His word.

“Bring all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be food in My house, and try Me now in this,” says the Lord of hosts, “If I will not open for you the windows of heaven and pour out for you such blessing that there will not be room enough to receive it.   Malachi 3:10 (NKJV)

Don’t get me wrong, this is not just about money.  It is about offering to Christ your time, your talent, and your treasure.  If those professing to be Christian were more Christ like, channeling their God given gifts, talents, and abundance, to feed the hungry, clothe the naked, heal the sick, and fight injustice, we would call down the mountain moving power of God and transform the world as Christ called us to do.

Blessings & Adventure,

Lynn “lynnibug” Rios

We cannot continue to call ourselves Christian while conforming to the world, and expect the world to come seeking God in our church.  We must first step out in faith, enter into an intimate relationship with Christ to become like Christ.  When we, as the body of Christ, lead by His example, then the  world will understand what it means to be Christian.