what does being a christian truly mean?

Recently I have been looking at my life and wondering who am I. Not based on what I say but what I do. Doing so has made me wonder am I truly a christian. I belive in god and that jesus christ is the son of god. But does that make me a christian or simply someone that accepts that there is a higher power? It made me realize that the only way for me to be sure is for me to do some research on what a christian truly is and compare that definition with my own life.

By definition a christian is a person who believes in jesus christ. Other definitions say a christian is a person who exemplifies in his or her life the teachings of christ. And another definition describes it as a disciple of christ. This last definition made me realize that I am not completely sure what exactly disciple means. I know there were 12 disciples in the bible. But what is the root definition? Disciple means a person who is a pupil or an adherent of the doctorines of another, follower. A pupil is someone who is learning under the close supervision of a teacher. An adherent is someone who follows or upholds a leader. And by definition to follow means to immitate, to conform, to accept as leader, to go in pursuit of, or to serve. So a christian is someone who believes in jesus christ. Who acts as christ did. Someone who has a relationship with god in which they learn from him under close supervision. Someone who has accepted christ as lord of their life and pursues him and serves him. Someone who imitates christ and has been conformed to be like christ.

Looking at all this has made me realize that while I do believe in jesus christ I am not so sure I should call myself a christian. Because my actions do not say I am a christian. I rarely pursue god except when I am in need. My life does not show that I have learned closely from him and in doing so began to conform to be like him. And on most occasions I find myself serving myself and my flesh, allowing it to be lord over my life.

But while I am no where near where I need to be and in a way it is hard realizing just how far from a true christian I am, I use this study as encouragement. After all you can't get where you need to be if you don't know how to get there. And I must be pursuing at least a little, otherwise I never would have done this. Now it is up to me to put to use the knowledge that I have. After all knowledge without application is foolishness.

Doing this has made me understand more as to why many people have such a bad opinion of christians, saying there is too much hypocrisy. Before I used to say that we are all human and we all make mistakes, and that being christian doesn't mean you are perfect. But while this is true I now also believe that many people don't fully understand what it means to be a christian. They think that all you have to do is say a prayer and try to do good. But it is much deeper than that. Being a christian is a daily walk that is centered around a relationship with god, that starts with humbling yourself and laying it all down to follow and serve god.

Matthew 8:19-22 NIV

19 Then a teacher of the law came to him and said, “Teacher, I will follow you wherever you go.”
20 Jesus replied, “Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head.”
21 Another disciple said to him, “Lord, first let me go and bury my father.”
22 But Jesus told him, “Follow me, and let the dead bury their own dead.”

Published with Blogger-droid v1.6.0

All we really need is Jesus

Looking to our fellow man
For our help with the problems at hand
Saying won't you please redeem us
But all we really need is Jesus
We walk around the mountain again
Too ashamed to turn from our sin
As we cry out who will lead us
But all we really need is Jesus

So take off these chains of mine
Don't wanna be a slave to this world
Your yoke is easy and your burden is light
You say, come to me its alright
come to me its alright

Man shows up on the scene
Teaches us of faith and love and things unseen
Died on a cross to redeem us
All we really need is Jesus
He's the savior of our souls
And through him we may know, the Father
God appointed him to lead us
All we really need is Jesus

So take off these chains of mine
Don't wanna be a slave to this world
Your yoke is easy and your burden is light
You say, come to me its alright
Come to me its alright

The ever stable stock market of God

Due to the recent economic "crisis" I find that many people are scared, including myself at times. I see them living in a constant state of fear that they could lose everything. Worrying themselves "to death" about how they will make ends meet. They are so worried about the troubles that might come tomorrow that they can't enjoy today. They feel they can't trust anyone. They can't trust the politicians to help them through this time. After all look at the bailout plan, which was widely thought to be unwise and corrupt and yet happened anyway. They can't put any trust in business or in their possessions and wealth, thousands are losing their jobs each week. So they're constantly worrying, going through scenarios in their heads. If this happens I'll do that; if that happens I'll do this. They're all trying to figure out how to fix it themselves. They put their trust in themselves to make it. In the past I too have thought and acted the same way. But as I continue to walk with God I found out more and more that the world's way and God's way usually aren't the same. The world tells us to put our trust in our elected leaders, our country, and ourselves. But Scripture tells us we should put our trust in God. The word trust is found eighty-nine times in the NIV, fifty-three of those times it is telling of trusting God.

The first scripture that comes to mind for me is one of my father's favorites, Proverbs 3:5-6. Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not into your own understanding; in all ways acknowledge him, and he will direct your paths. There it is, Trust in the Lord, aka trust in God. But what exactly does the word trust mean? Well a few definitions are: to rely on, to depend on, hope, reliance on the integrity strength ability etc of a person, leave in the care of. Some synonyms of trust are faith, confidence, reliance, and dependence. One definition of reliance is to be dependent on for support help and supply. A definition of dependence is require the aid of another for support. Now the Hebrew word for trust is batach, which means to hie for refuge. The definition of hie is to hasten, which means to hurry or move swiftly. And the definition of refuge is shelter or protection from danger. So you could translate it as run to the Lord for protection from your danger. Now it says to trust in Him with all your heart, not just part, not just most, but all. So we're told to completely, wholly trust in the Lord. So we should be sprinting to Him as fast as we can, knowing being confident that He can give us refuge because we only have trust in Him. Otherwise if we have trust in something or someone else our heart is torn. Then it says lean not on your own understanding. The word lean means to rely on.Now the Hebrew word for lean is sha'an, which means to support one's self. Understanding means intelligence, comprehension or interpretation. The Hebrew word for understanding is biynah, which means to separate mentally, or to discern. So scripture tells us we should not rely on ourselves and our own ability to discern, but put our full trust in God. Then it says in all your ways acknowledge him. Once again we see the word all which we already know means completely or wholly. But what exactly does he mean by ways? The definition as it pertains to our study is a course of life or conduct, a manner of living or acting. Now the Hebrew word for ways is derek, which means a trodden road. It derives from the word darak which means to tread or to walk. So ways is the path we take in life, our daily life. What about acknowledge, what exactly does that mean? Some definitions are: to admit as true, to recognize the authority or claims of, to respond to, to express thanks for. The Hebrew word for acknowledge is yada', which means to know, to ascertain by seeing, or to recognize. Now ascertain means to find out with certainty. So it means to be certain of. So in everything we do we need to be certain of and recognize the authority of God. Finally it says and he will direct your paths. Now the word direct means to guide or the fastest way to a point, straight. The word paths means way worn by footstep, or a course of conduct thought etc. The Hebrew word for will direct is yashar, it means to be straight or even, or to make or be right pleasant or prosperous. The Hebrew word for path is orach, which means a well trodden road or a caravan. It is derived from the Hebrew word arach which means to travel. So in other words He will guide you to the straight pleasant road. One more important thing to note in these verses is the term used for God. The term is Lord, which means a person in authority, a person who has rights over what he possesses. This is important to know because it tells us why we can trust in Him, why we can rely on Him. He is the highest authority there is. So let us translate it this way. Run to God for shelter and protection from danger as fast as you can, don't rely on your own knowledge and ability to discern and get yourself out of problems, but in everything you do recognize the authority of God, and He will show you the pleasant road which you should take.

The next verse that we're gonna look at is one that's a favorite of a man I greatly admire, Matthew 6:31-34. So do not worry, saying, "What shall we eat?" or "What shall we drink?" or "What shall we wear?" For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own. So there it is, the scripture telling us not to worry. But not only is it the scripture but it is the words of Jesus. He spoke these words, so you can't say well these are just words of someone who heard God, maybe he heard Him wrong. No, these are the words of God, end of story. So there it is, telling us not to worry like the pagans do. Telling us not to be like the world. What's it say that God's way is? Seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Some may be asking, "Well what does seek first his kingdom and righteousness mean? And what exactly does all these things will be given to you mean?" Well the word seek means to search for, to aim at, or to go to. First means before all others. Kingdom is a domain in which someone rules. Righteousness is the state of being righteous, righteous is morally upright, without guilt or sin, morally justifiable. So using just what we can find in a dictionary we find that it means before you do anything else go to the place where God is in control and aim to be morally justifiable in God's eyes. But what if we look to the Greek. The Greek word for first is proton, it means firstly as it pertains to time place order or importance. The Greek word for righteousness is dikaiosune, which means equity of character or act. Equity means fairness or justice. The word dikaisune is derived from the Greek word dikaios, which means holy or innocent. So, now that we know this, a better translation might be; Set your sights firstly on God, make Him your top priority, aim to be morally upright, justified, and holy in his eyes above all else. If you do this God will provide you with all the things you need, he will give them freely. Yes that's right He will give them freely, if you make your priority His plan for your life. If you commit to Him and make Him your number one priority, forsaking all to follow Him. If you seek his righteousness, to be like Him above all else. If you do this He will give you all you need. You will have no reason to worry about tomorrow because there is enough for you to do today. Don't miss out on the opportunities you have to minister to people because you're too worried about what tomorrow will bring. Instead, Put your full trust in the Lord. Run to Him, set your sights on Him and Him alone . Let Him guide your Life. Surrender every aspect of your life to Him. Submit yourself to Him and His will for your life. Stop trying to hold on, stop refusing to relinquish all control. Search for what God's will for your life is and continue to do it, continue to have and build a relationship with Him. If you do this your path will be straight and pleasant, and all your needs will be provided for. Let go and allow god to mold you. Stop holding onto yourself. The Lord says ,"Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light." Matthew 11:28-30

Patience

Recently the Lord has been challenging me, teaching me to be patient. It caused me to have to sit down and really think about what patience was to me, what my definition was. Up until this point patience for me was simply a way of saying waiting, at most it meant waiting without complaining. Be patient seemed to be fairly simple, and I thought for the most part I was patient, but God disagreed. So I decided to do some research on it, you know, to prove God wrong. Turns out while my definition wasn't necessarily wrong, it also wasn't completely accurate. My definition was lacking probably the most important component to truly being patient when waiting. Here's some definitions, see if you can figure out what I was missing?: calm endurance, steady effort, steadfast despite opposition difficulty or adversity, bearing trials or pains calmly or without complaint, persevering, constant. Yeah, you guessed right, the big difference is effort, application, discipline, preparation. All of those are acceptable answers.

Ok so now we know what I should have been doing, what God was challenging me to do. But what had I been doing? Why was my definition so wrong in God's eyes? So once again I had to do some research, since I'm not nearly as smart as I like to tell myself I am, and I'm foolish enough to actually think I'm wise at times. After some soul searching I realized all I was doing is merely waiting, and the definition that described me best was complacent. Some definitions of complacent are: content to a fault, self satisfied and unconcerned, feeling of contentment or self satisfaction especially when coupled with an unawareness of danger trouble or controversy, .smug and uncritically satisfied with oneself or ones achievements. Not exactly the type of person I wanna be remembered as. One definition jumped out in particular, it said; feeling of contentment or self satisfaction especially when coupled with an UNAWARENESS of danger trouble or controversy. The reason it was so intriguing to me is because some of the synonyms I found for preparation were alertness and readiness. So now you see why that little part of the definition of patience that I had left out was so important. But don't take my word for it, lets see what God has to say about it.

In Hebrews 6:11-12 it says; We want each of you to show this same diligence to the very end, in order to make your hope sure. We do not want you to become lazy, but to imitate those who through faith and patience inherit what has been promised. Another example is James 5:7-11 it reads; Be patient, then brothers, until the Lord's coming. See how the farmer waits for the land to yield its valuable crop and how patient he is for the autumn and spring rains. You too be patient and stand firm, because the Lord's coming is near. Don't grumble against each other, brothers, or you will be judged. The Judge is standing at the door! Brothers as an example of patience in the face of suffering, take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord. As you know we consider blessed those who have persevered. You have heard of Job's perseverance and have seen what the Lord finally brought about. The Lord is full of compassion and mercy. 1 Peter 5:8 says we should ; be self controlled and alert. Then Hebrews 2:1 warns us; we must pay more careful attention, therefore, to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away.

But the Bible doesn't just give us examples of patience, it also strongly warns us against complacency. In Amos 6:1-7 it states that those who have become complacent will be among the first to go into exile. In other words they will be banished, become men without a country, an outcast. Not an outcast of the world, but an outcast of God. Then in Zephaniah 1:4-13 it talks about how the Lord will destroy Judah for turning away from Him. It says; At that time I will search out Jerusalem with lamps and punish those who are complacent, who are like wine left on its dregs, who think, the Lord will do nothing, either good or bad. Their wealth will be plundered, their houses demolished. They will build houses but not live in them; they will plant vineyards but not drink the wine. Wow. now to get a better understanding we need to understand the term dregs of wine. now dreg is the sediment that settles at the bottom of a liquid. Now with wine this happens when it goes undisturbed for a long period of time. In other words he is warning against becoming idle, content to a fault with yourself. no changing, no effort, just being complacent, undisturbed, secure. Proverbs 1:20-33 warns against rejecting wisdom saying For the waywardness of the simple will kill them and the complacency of fools will destroy them. 1 Thessalonians verse 5:14 tells us to warn those who are idle. Idle is just another word for complacent. Dregs form in the wine because it is idle. The same way sin will build up in us if we become idle.

So when we are met with opposition, when we are forced to be patient, let us not linger and become idle, merely trying to wait it out. But let us be diligent, making the most of our time, preparing for the opportunity. Take it from me, I've learned from my own personal experiences that if you don't prepare during the time of waiting there's a good chance you won't be ready when the opportunity comes. There's also a chance that the opportunity will never come. So show a steady endurance when being patient. Those who have faith in what God has promised them will show their faith in their actions, by their preparation.

Light

There's a war going on
A war of the mind
but you'll never see
If you're looking behind
You feel at peace
Cause you have grown blind
And though you don't seek
A war you will find
So open your eyes
The eyes within you
Try not to cry
As you take in the view
I tell you no lies
Its graphic but true
There's death all around
Blood in the streets
We've all been made fools
By this wicked deceit
This war we can win
But we walk in defeat
Thinking if we ignore
The opposition will flee
No concern for our brothers
Only ourselves
Packed up our salvation
Placed it on the shelves
Thinking its ok
If we hide it away
But let your light burn
Don't waste today
Look to the Lord
For the answers you seek
Don't turn your head
We're all called to speak
Not just with our words
Not just when we pray
Not just when its comfortable
Not just when it pays
There's a war going on
Its not time to just play
Let your light shine
Don't hide it away
Don't let them pass by
With nothing to say
Let your light shine
Don't waste today
Don't waste today

Where is your fanhood?

Well its football time in Tennessee again. Time when everyone pulls out thier orange, hopes are renewed, and everyone yells in unison, believing this will be the year. I was fortunate enough to get to go to the game this past saturday as our beloved Vols took on the UAB Blazers. It was quite a sight as 100,000 plus people filled Neyland Stadium to cheer on their team. Most of them yelling and acting like fools to show their passion for their team. Some even paint themselves orange, in the case of UT, to let people know who they represent. Whats more amazing is the small contingency of UAB fans there chearing their team on. They're outnumbered 100 to 1, and yet they still wear their green and support their team. Even in the midst of an overwhelming amount of people against them, they still proudly proclaim who they support. They know they will be persecuted for opposing the masses, but they stand thier ground. But it doesn't end when they leave the stadium for followers of either of these teams. They talk to everyone about their team, wear apparrel supporting them, even put stuff all over their cars and house to show who they represent. To alot of us this seems very normal. We think nothing of it. But if its so normal, and so easy for us to show this type of passion about something as insignificant as football, Why do we struggle to do the same for God? After all hasn't He done more for us than any sports team ever has? He created the Earth and everything in it, including us. And even after we rebelled and turned from Him, He sent His only Son to die on the cross for us, so that we may have eternal life, and be free from the bondage of sin. And He did all this for free. Price of admission, belive Jesus is the Son of God. Price to get close to Him, humility and prayer. And unlike your sports team, God will never let you down. His opponent is Satan, who has already been defeated. Its not even a contest. So why don't we show who is truly worth representing? Why aren't we showing and telling everyone that we represent Christ? Why do we get so quiet and timid in the midst of unbelievers? Why aren't we willing to act like fools for God? Why don't we constantly speak of Christ to others the same way we do about sports? Are we too afraid of persecution? Have we lost our passion? Or have we forgotten how amazing our God is? If we follow Christ there will be persecution, but blessed is he who is persecuted for Christ. Be bold and cheer for our God. Study His gameplan, read his words. Become a fan of God. Renew the passion for Christ.

Thank You Lord

You are God of gods
A King above all kings
You've beaten death itself
Creator of all things

You are Lord of lords
The person I most need
To You I look for help
And You've given it to me

Thank you Lord, that you sent your Son to die for those like me
Thank you Lord, cause you shed your blood so I've been set free
Thank you Lord, for showing me compassion and mercy
Though I'm not worthy, you never stop loving me.

You are Alpha and Omega
Beginning and the End
The Rock on which I stand
Whom I take refuge in

You are Prince of Peace
The Lion and the Lamb
The pure spotless offering
You cleanse me of my sin

Thank you Lord, that you sent your son to die for those like me
Thank you Lord, cause you shed your blood so I've been set free
Thank you Lord, for showing me compassion and mercy
Though I'm not worthy, you never stop loving me