What is a real Christian

I want to bring this topic to the forefront to hopefully enlighten all who read this message to what the Bible says a real Christian is or isn’t. For many years I had the understanding that I was a Christian, but my life’s priorities and struggles were telling my heart otherwise.

The Zondervan Bible Dictionary says the word Christian comes directly from the Greek word Χριστίανος (Christianos). The Latin suffix “ianos” on this word was widely used throughout the Roman Empire of that time to designate a slave to the person’s name it was compounded onto (to designate an owner’s slave). What this says to us is that during the time of the apostles, to be called a Christian was to be understood that you were a slave to Christ.

Romans 6:22 NIV says “But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves to God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life.”

1 Peter 2:16 NIV says “Live as free men, but do not use your freedom as a cover-up for evil; live as servants of God.”

Eph 6:5-8 NIV says “Slaves, obey your earthly masters with respect and fear, and with sincerity of heart, just as you would obey Christ. Obey them not only to win their favor when their eye is on you, but like slaves of Christ, doing the will of God from your heart. Serve wholeheartedly, as if you were serving the Lord, not men, because you know that the Lord will reward everyone for whatever good he does, whether he is slave or free.”

The apostles wrote of themselves as servants (slaves) of Christ. In their letters they indicated for us to follow their example. In doing so we would become faithful to Christ, totally submissive to His Lordship, and totally trusting in His Spirit for guidance and our every need.

Romans 1:1 NKJV says “Paul, a bondservant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, separated to the gospel of God.”

James 1:1 NKJV says “James, a bondservant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ”

2 Peter 1:1 NKJV says “Simon Peter, a bondservant and apostle of Jesus Christ. To those who have obtained like precious faith with us by the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ”

There are many, many more scriptures throughout the Bible indicating God is calling us to be totally committed servants (slaves) of Christ. There are other words the Bible uses to describe a real Christian; one is to be called a disciple. There are requirements to being called a disciple also.

Luke 14:26-27 NLT says “If you want to be my disciple, you must hate everyone else by comparison—your father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters—yes, even your own life. Otherwise, you cannot be my disciple. And if you do not carry your own cross and follow me, you cannot be my disciple.”

Luke 14:33 NIV says “In the same way, any of you who does not give up everything he has cannot be my disciple.”

Somehow in this age we live in, we have simplified and degraded what being a Christian is. The current understanding of a Christian has been simplified to a person who only needs to understand their salvation is based on believing that Jesus died on the cross for his sins, and that Jesus was bodily resurrected. The devil understands and believes this also and he wants people to keep believing this. The devil doesn’t want people to look past this simplified deceptive concept. The devil knows total submission and obedience to our God is also required. The devil would rather keep people dependent on themselves or things. If anyone trusts their salvation only on this simplified concept, they might have a rude awakening at their judgment before Jesus Christ.

A real biblical based Christian is a person believing, trusting, and loving Jesus with all their heart, soul, and mind. A true Christian will not allow themselves to be entangled with any of the worldly pleasures of this world. For they know to be a friend to the world is to be an enemy of God. Christians enjoy the blessing of their needs being met, but know that if they receive their enjoyment from worldly pleasures instead of God’s grace, they are in a sinful state. A true Christian will be living his life is such a way that every thought, decision, and action he does should be to the glory of God.

What determines whether a person is a true Christian is really a matter of the heart. To become a true Christian a person must accept wholeheartedly Jesus as his/her Lord and Savior. If anyone accepts Jesus less than wholeheartedly, that person can still rejoice because Christ’s seed has been planted and is growing in them, but that seed has not matured and they are not yet a true biblical based Christian. To be a true Christian one must accept Jesus as his/her Lord. This means a person must make a decision to submit all of their self as a living sacrifice to God. This is a total submission to His authority and rule over you. This submission cannot be partial. A person cannot submit part of their life to Him and want to keep other parts under their control. He wants all of you. God is still a jealous God. Jesus said “If you love me, you will keep my commandments”. Jesus demands us to give all of ourselves to Him with what Jesus calls the first and greatest commandment:

Matt 22:37-38 NIV says “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment”

It is only after we do the first and greatest commandment that we can produce any good and Godly fruit by doing the second commandment Jesus gave:

Matt 22:39-40 NIV says “And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments."

When we first truly accept Jesus as Lord and Savior with our whole heart, we will probably not be able to automatically do everything we have committed ourselves to do in Christ. This is where the Holy Spirit continues the sanctification process in us. The Spirit will continue to renew our minds to control our bodies to become more like Christ in increasing measure as time goes forward. We must look to the Spirit to finish the purification process and do all the Godly works through us. We have no power to do anything apart from the Spirit of God. If we are a true Christian, the process of learning to crawl, walk, and run in the Spirit can happen fairly fast since a true Christian’s heart is not restrictive to the work of the Spirit.

I would like to take this time to tell some of my personal story. What I mainly want to share with all of you is that over 25 years from the beginning of my walk with God, I was only giving parts of myself to God. I didn't have enough faith to give all of me. My faith had to be built up at each phase to allow myself to give more of myself to Jesus. To make a long story short, through those 25 years I sliced off more of my life and gave it to God, slice by slice as time went on. At the end of the 25 years, when I had sliced off the last of my heart and soul and gave it to God, He did a miracle in my life. I now understand that at that point He baptized me with the Holy Spirit to make me ready for service to His Kingdom. At that point, I was no longer looking out for my own selfish needs, but for the needs of others. God was able to flip my heart’s desires from selfishness to truly loving others with not my love, but with God's love flowing through me. Since then God has enlightened me with His truth through His word and Spirit. So much so that I cannot hold it in, but have to share it with anyone willing to listen.

May God bless you through the truth.
God’s servant - Michael Reid