I got to asking this recently because a couple of friends have said that they don’t consider that they are Christians any more. So, what is a Christian basically? And what makes me one?
For me being a Christian is first and foremost about God in Christ. That God created me, God loves, redeems and invites me to share a relationship with and follow Jesus Christ.
This is where being a Christian begins. It is God’s gift, it is something God offers in Christ. If I recognise and accept this gift then I am a Christian. Then beliefs, actions and relationships quickly follow – but they are not the starting point, but a necessary consequence.
Thinking of being a Christian in this way – means that Christianity is a God thing, Christ based. It then says that beliefs, practice, culture and relationships come naturally from that beginning.
I know that people can lose faith, but I wonder whether we come to that place often because we have fallen out of relationships with other Christians, are struggling with what we believe or know that some of our behaviour doesn’t fit. I wonder whether it might be more appropriate to say, at those times, that I am a struggling, inconsistent or even I am not a good Christian. Even as someone said to Jesus – Lord, I believe, help my unbelief. I suggest this because when we reach an impasse in our lives – God in Christ still keeps giving to us.
At times, it is right to admit that we struggle or fall short on matters of belief, action and relationships but we are followers of Christ seeking to hang in there. Indeed making such an admission is a mark of being a Christian.
Actually, to dip out and say we are no longer Christian may prevent us from maturing and growing, and even missing some of the grace God has for us.
Graham Brownlee, September 2017