Being a Christian

What does it mean to you to be a Christian?  Is it to attend church weekly or more, or reading your Bible more, or getting up earlier to pray, or being a better person?  The list can go on...
I look back on my own life to the time when I decided to become a Christian.  Besides the pressure of my neighbourhood friends to do so because we would take lessons from the (white people) together, I made that decision because I knew it was the right thing to do.  The prayer I repeated did nothing for me- maybe I was expecting too much, so I set out to be a Christian the best I knew how.  I knew all the Bible stories, memorized a lot of scripture, made sure I was the best behaved girl around.  This plan worked very well for me until I got into my teenage years.  My faith in God got challenged by other views, and others around me contended to be as good as or even better Christians than me.  Church life was boring, and I desperately needed to see a God who knew and understood my generation.
A team from the US who worked with Youth with A Mission (YWAM) came to my church to share who God meant to them.  I got to see a God in them that was way more personal than I imagined.  I knew then that God had answered my prayers for showing me His version of being a Christian.  I decided that Sunday to allow God to change me in what ever needed to be changed, so that I become the Christian He wanted me to be.  He has been faithful to do that over the years, and I have enjoyed a relationship with Him where asIi got to know Him more, I have changed.  My views of Christian life has changed drastically.
Being a Christian is not just what you do or don't do.  It is a personal and intimate relationship with the God of the universe.  The same God the Father, Son (Jesus Christ), and Holy Spirit.  It is easy to just follow a list of rules, or traditions, but being obedient to God on a daily basis and in everything is a challenge.  Why?  It involves our heart.  See, being a Christian = being His child = being in His Kingdom.  In God's kingdom, relationship is most important.  Relationship with Him being the most important of all relationships.  He uses all of our experiences, good or bad to mold and move us to His agenda.  This includes our bad decisions, mistakes and things beyond our control.  Each of us must answer to him for ourselves.
What keeps us from enjoying such a relationship?  Most times it is the excuses we make and our tendency to focus on what others are doing right or wrong.  We want to have answers for everything when all we are called to do is to be obedient to God.  We need to let go of what is hindering us, and be honest with ourselves.  Why am I where I am at right now?  Is my life bringing glory to God?  Do I want my life to bring glory to God?  Why?
So, in redeeming what it means to be a Christian, we must remember the key points mentioned above:
Being a Christian means:
1. having an intimate relationship with God
2. being a part of God's Kingdom
3. being a child of God
4. being obedient to God in everthing
5. allowing God to change you so you become who He created you to be.
Let us examine our hearts and allow the Holy Spirit to show us what is keeping us from being the Christian He wants us to be.  His way is the best and the most peaceful and freeing.

Can God use me?

Do you see yourself as a person God can use?  Why?

In 2 Chronicles 16:9, it reads 'For the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to show His might in behalf of those whose heart is blameless towards Him.'
There are a few points that we can get from this scripture:
1. God looks at our heart.  When he views mankind on the earth, His eyes are on our hearts.  He also has the incredible advantage of seeing our hearts in the light of the past, present, and the future.  He sees the whole picture and He sees what we do not see.
Why does He look at our heart? 'To show His might in behalf of those whose heart is blameless towards Him.'  The phrase 'in behalf of' in this translation, speaks to God showing His might in us and through us, not in front of us.  Example: God will not kill the bear that is attacking you; He will give you the strength to kill the bear.
2. God wants to show His might.  If we are not seeing God's might shown on our behalf, then we need to check our hearts.  Checking our hearts does not mean:
- changing ourselves
 -making sure we are perfect or sinless
Consider Abraham: he was worshiping false gods, he lied twice because he did not trust God, he complained to God because God promised to make him a great nation and he didn't even have a son, and he tried to fulfill God's promise naturally.  That was when Ishmael was born.  Yet, God kept His promise while moving Abraham to His agenda/will.
Consider also Jacob:  he lied, deceived his father-in-law, tricked his brother and father-in-law.  What did God see in his heart?  Jacob met God four or five times in his adult life where God reinforced His promise to him and Abraham.  God again kept His promise.
What is evident here is that what God sees in our heart is not dependent on our choices.  Remember, God knows everything, and His thinking is higher than ours.   Our focus needs to be on what God is saying to us and then make changes accordingly.
3. God is always looking.  As long as you are alive, it is not too late to respond to what God is saying to you and calling you to.  Look at Moses, he failed in His first attempt to save his people.  Did that mean he was not supposed to do that? No.  He thought that, and ran away.  When he lead God's way many years later, he turned out to be one of history's greatest leader.
4. God chooses whom He please.  We cannot spend our time trying to figure out why one person is used mightily by God and another is not.  We must instead focus on what God is saying to us.  God will not show Himself to us for someone else, unless He is giving us a message for them.  And even then, we are just to deliver the message, not play God in their lives.
5. God will do as He will.  God does not have to bless your work just because your idea is good and works.  Also, if God had you do something once, it soes not mean He will do that same thing again, or the same way.

Another question to consider: What is God calling you do do in this present season of your life?  

Is it to be an obedient child, be the best you can be, change habits you have formed, make things right in relationship you have, pray for others, resurrect that thing you had a passion for, be a pure single/married person?
God is still looking; what is He seeing?

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