What Is A True Christian?
To be a Christian means to be a follower of Christ and His teachings. Jesus Christ came to earth to teach mankind what the true character of God is, to teach us how to live a good moral and ethical life, and to be a perfect example of how we should live. The Christian instruction manual is the Holy Bible. The New Testament in the Holy Bible concentrates on the life, lessons and example of Jesus Christ and the beginning of the Church and early Christians. The Old Testament tells us about the history of mankind and the Hebrew nation (God’s chosen people) and their struggles with their relationship with God. True Christians love God and develop a personal relationship with Him, and accept Jesus Christ as the Lord of their life as well as their Savior.
God loves us more than we can imagine and He wants us to love Him back. Forcing us to love Him would not be true love, so He gave mankind "Free Will" so each of us could decide whether or not we wanted to develop a loving relationship with Him. We ultimately have one main purpose in life and that is "to prepare for eternity." If you want to live in hell (cut off from God and His love forever), then live however you please. If you want to live in God’s heavenly kingdom (dwelling with God and His love forever) you must learn to love and respect God. It is not enough to just say that you love or believe in God, for God knows what is truly in your heart. You must "love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind" (Matthew 22:36-37). If you truly love God you will want to keep His commandments and show love and respect for Him and other people. Christians show their love for God when they willingly help others. People should be able to tell that Christians love God, not by their words but by their actions. We show God our love for Him through our worship of Him, our prayers to Him (through Jesus Christ), our relationship with Him and our loving our neighbor as ourself (Matthew 22:38-39). If we, as Christians, truly love God, we will ultimately dwell with Him forever in His heavenly kingdom.
God has loved mankind ever since He created man. John 3:16 even states that "God so loved the world (mankind) that He gave us His only begotten Son (Jesus Christ) ... ." God willingly gave up His Son to sinful mankind. His Son willingly gave Himself over to mankind knowing that He would endure a horrific, excruciatingly painful and lengthy sacrificial death. He did this in order for Christians to be able to develop an everlasting relationship with God. God desires that all humans would want to develop such a relationship with Him (2 Peter 3:9). Through His grace and mercifully, forgiving character all humans are offered this gift of an eternal relationship with Him, but the only way to the Father (God) is through (faith in) the Son (Christ)(John 14:6). God has a strong desire for each Christian to build a strong, loving, lasting relationship with Him. The more we communicate and spend time with someone, the better we get to know them. Peter said that we are to "pray without ceasing" (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18), so look for opportunities through out each day to talk with God. My daughter once told me "You know, if God is always with us, it is rude not to talk with Him." Praying and meditating on His words (found throughout the Holy Bible) are good ways to communicate with God.
True Christians will want God’s will for their life instead of their own will, and they will want Jesus Christ to be their Lord as well as their Savior. They will want Jesus Christ to be in charge of every aspect of their life. They will confess and repent of their sins, which means they will be sorry for and turn away from practicing evil and sinful acts and thoughts. They will want to be good and do good things for other people. So if you want to be a true Christian, tell Jesus Christ about it through prayer to Him (talking to Him silently or aloud). Then confess to Him your sins (wrong thoughts and actions), ask for His forgiveness, and repent of (try your best to stop doing) your sins. Tell Him that you accept His sacrificial death for your sins so you may develop a close relationship with Him. Ask Him to be your Lord and ask for His Holy Spirit to come upon you to dwell with you and guide your every thought and decision and action. Begin sharing your faith with other believers and continue studying God’s Word - The Holy Bible. (To learn more about Jesus Christ, His teachings and His example, begin reading the New Testament - especially the forth book - the book of "John")
