I have thought about definitions of Christianity and what it means to be a Christian. To me” Christ” in the word Christian is the biggest part. The “-ian” part of the word reminds me of a nationality like Belgian, Hungarian or Ghanaian. A person who is Belgian is from Belgium or is affiliated with the country. By the same token, a Christian is a person who lives in Christ. Christ is his or her country, residence, main affiliation and place of belonging. I wrote about the message of love yesterday and being a Christian is definitely being a carrier of that message. I often wonder about how much of Christ I am sharing with people. How much pride do I have in the One I belong to? Am I wearing the flag of His love? Am I being a good ambassador for Him? Being a Christian has had so many definitions and variations and I know it confuses believers and non-believers. How do you define your Christianity? I can’t picture life outside of Christ now but at the same time I realize that I step out of my residence too often. “I am human after all” has become an excuse I am not satisfied with anymore. My goal is to be the ambassador of the message of hope that the Lord wants me to be. I can’t craft my Christian identity based on what the world expects or what the world says. I have removed myself from the world’s interpretations of Christianity and I am on a quest to know Christ more for myself and to share Him with anyone I get in contact with. I am proud to be a Christian and I am humbled to even call Jesus my Savior. I am so not worthy and yet He died for me. I want to encourage you to define Christ in you and to shed His light around you. Some people will want to give their lives to Christ because of who they see in you. You never know who’s watching and you never know who is listening.
Christ in you, the hope of glory. With Christ in us we always have hope. Hope for the better. Hope for the light to shine. Hope to make it. Hope to have a better life. Hope to grow. Hope to love more. Hope to know more. Hope to rejoice more. Hope to live more. Christ is alive and well and He scared death out of us with His resurrection. I let Him scare away every dead cell, every dead thought, every day action that linger in me. He is the life that impacts my life. Spending time with Him is like getting a surge of hope and energy. He revives us. He encourages us. He motivates us. He activates peace, joy and love in us. As Christians, we have His life inside of us. I think we tend to forget that and we get carried away by a morbid life that is void of life. We live our lives as if we were still in the grave. We don’t celebrate. We don’t get excited. We don’t pray enough. We don’t connect with God enough. We just float on the river of a dead world that longs to know the resurrected life in Christ. Christ in me, the hope of glory. I have hope that I can see His glory. That hope gets me through the day. When His glory hits me, my spirit is lifted up and darkness fades away. There is a permanent light in the Lord. A light that we are meant to distribute to the world one word of love at a time, one act of kindness at a time, one touch from Jesus at a time.
The Holy Spirit lives in us. He inhabits the believers. We can give Him as much space as we want. We can make Him the mayor of our territory or we can make Him an occasional guest. I opt for the mayor option. I want Him to govern my heart and rule over my mind. As a Christian I have all it takes to show God’s love and spread His Word. It truly is up to me to surrender to the Lord or to surrender to the world. There is a nation of ambassadors for Christ. That nation is rising and it is going to take the world by force, using the power of love. Choose to join that nation. Remember that being a Christian is living in Christ. It’s dying to ourselves and living for Him. When you interact with someone, you can give him or her a touch from Heaven by being a representative of the Lord. You don’t have to perform miracles. You just have to listen, love and learn. Listen to the person, love the person and learn what you can do for the person. The Holy Spirit will guide you and give you what you need to share a piece of Heaven with earth. There is always hope in you because of Christ in you. Hope to revolutionize the world with love. Hope to show Jesus to someone who can’t see past tomorrow. Show the world that there is a future for everyone and Jesus holds their destinies. Keep living in Christ! It will change you and it will change your world!
Suggested reading: Luke 9:23; Colossians 1:27; Galatians 2:20
Words of hope for today 