Are you being who you claim to be?

The last study I looked at said in 2008, 78% of Americans claim to be Christians. This might sound like a good number to the average reader. You might think that the American church is doing it’s job well. I mean with 3 out of every 4 people in the nation claiming to be Christians, something great has to be happening in our nation. But, if you look around, I don’t think you’ll see evidence of what people are claiming.

Let’s look at the word Christian for a moment. It has a root word (Christ) and a suffix (-ian). The root word is easy to define. Christ refers to a Jewish rabbi born over 2000 years ago. There are claims he lived a perfect and sinless life and therefore was a perfect sacrifice for us sinners. The suffix –ian has a few definition according to wiktionary.org. When used with a noun it is defined as: One from, belonging to, relating to, or like. So the simplest definition of the word Christian is “like Christ”. I’m just not seeing it. I don’t see very many people living their lives like Christ lived his.

Do you agree? Maybe we shouldn’t focus on the word Christian as much as we focus on the religion which most people claim. Christianity is the religion of the 78% of Americans that claim to be Christians. We already broke down most of the word Christianity. We just added the suffix (-ity) to the word that means “like Christ”. The suffix –ity is defined as “state or quality of being…..”. So now we have people who claim to be adhering to a religion which means “state or quality of being like Christ”. Do most practitioners of Christianity look like they live in a state or have qualities of being like Christ? I’m just not seeing it.

What would it look like if we did? We would have 78% of Americans standing up for the oppressed, reaching out to those in need, striving to be holy, and discipling others to be like Christ. Jesus did all these things all while being challenged by the religious leaders of his time. If we claim to be like him, we should be doing the same type of things. He also cared for the sick, reached out to the outcast, prayed for those that hated him, and loved the “unlovable”. I’m not seeing many of these qualities of Jesus’ life being emulated in the people who claim to be Christians. So are you being who you claim to be? If you claim to be a Christian, are you living like Christ?

We would be in such a better place if people would just be who they claim to be.

Jesus serving others

Jesus caring for the poor and the sick

Jesus Loving the Unlovable