This past week I was part of a great discussion about living out our faith. We were discussion a couple of examples out of Chuck Colson’s book The Faith (see my posting on Doing Common Things in Uncommon Ways). A friend in our group took the side that the Amish in this story were example of “True” Christians. At the time, this seemed like a reasonable statement, but I have been pondering it for the last couple of days, and I have come to the conclusion that I think the word “true” is the wrong word to describe the actions that the people in the two stories took. Perhaps a better word to describe them would be mature. It is not that they are truer Christians, they are simply a little or a lot farther down the transformation process.
As I look through scripture, being a true Christ-follower is not about doing, rather it is about believing and accepting the free gift that Jesus supplied by dieing on the cross as payments for our sins. That is what Easter is all about. Once we have made this decision a transformation begins to take place. The replacement of our corrupted beliefs and values with Biblical grounded ones. As our old beliefs and values are replaced there will be a change in our world view, motives, and behaviors.
The Christians in Colson’s book were acting on their Biblically grounded beliefs and values, they were “taking up their cross” and following Jesus. These Christians should be looked at as examples of what living out our Christian walk should look like. What it means to take up our cross.
What is the cross you have been called to carry? How can you give your life to be apart of carrying out God’s will here on earth? What corrupted beliefs and values do you need to replace with Biblically grounded ones? How are you daily renewing your mind though the reading of scripture? How could someone identify you as a Christ-follower by your actions?
