Recently I have found it necessary to clarify what it is to be a true Christian because not everyone who claims to be a Christian acts like one. This can be rather confusing when you expect someone you may even respect as being a faithful child of God behaving in very unfaithful ways. An article on Truthwatch.info gives a fairly comprehensive list of things we can look for to determine a true Christian, which are:
1. Believes that Jesus is Lord
2. Accepts that the Bible is the full and final counsel of God
3. Holds to all of the essential doctrines of an evangelical faith
4. Is distressed by sin in the Church
5. Is distressed by false teaching and prophecy in the Church
6. Always tests what they hear and do, against the Word of God
7. Consciously models agape love
8. Fears God, holding Him in reverential awe
9. Is concerned to spread the 'Gospel of the Kingdom
10. Applies a Christian world view to our times
These are just 10 marks that a person has truly been 'born again'. Jesus also said that you will “know them by their fruits”. So you cannot fake being a Christian for very long before a true Christian will find you out. And if you know you are a true Christian and your are disliked or mistreated by someone else who claims to be a Christian, there is a very real possibility that they are deceived or are trying to deceive you. For a true Christian will love God with all of his heart, soul, mind and strength, and will love his neighbor as he loves himself. Praise the Lord!
1 comment:
Some true believers seem like false Christians, but they are just weak Christians. Actually every follower of Christ is weak and we too often lose our battle against sin. But some genuine Christians are weaker than others to the point that they do not really seem like Christians at all.
I say this because we cannot always be sure about another person's status before God, so we just trust them as far as they have proven themselves to be godly. If we judge them too harshly we may discourage them and ourselves face God's displeasure, and if we trust and promote them too greatly we may be setting them up for a great fall and ourselves face God's displeasure.
The second most important person we should be analyzing is ourselves: whether we are walking in the faith according to the word of God.
And the most important person we should be watching? Jesus.
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