DAILY DEVOTIONAL – March 6, 2020
“What Are You?”
Prayer: Lord Jesus, we are nothing without Your love. Through Your blood You have given to us the grace and forgiveness of God that every heart longs for. Thank You Jesus. Amen.
Scripture: 1 Corinthians 2:1-5
“And so it was with me, brothers and sisters. When I came to you, I did not come with eloquence or human wisdom as I proclaimed to you the testimony about God. For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. I came to you in weakness with great fear and trembling. My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit’s power, so that your faith might not rest on human wisdom, but on God’s power.”
Devotional – “What Are You?”
If someone who had never heard of Christianity before asked you what you mean when you say that you are a Christian, what would you say?
What does it mean to be a Christian? Does it mean you are religious? Does it mean you are Democrat or Republican? Does it mean you don’t drink or smoke? Does it mean you have special knowledge or insight?
In Matthew 22:37-40 Jesus is asked what the greatest commandment of God is. In response Jesus says, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. 38 This is the great and first commandment. 39 And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. 40 On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.” To be a Christian is to love God and love others. To be Christian is to love God because of the love He has given to us in Jesus Christ, God’s own Son, who came to love us by dying for our sins and rising again for our salvation. To be a Christian is to love others because we love God and because God so loved the world that He gave His only Son.
Our Lord and God Jesus specifically defines what it means to be a Christian, what it means to be a disciple of Christ, in John 13:35 when He says, “By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”
Christ chose the most broken and unqualified men to be His disciples. Christ often infuriated the religious zealots because He dared to socialize with and befriend people who didn’t appear or act the way that the self-righteous Pharisees expected them to. Christ loved the unlovable. God humbled Himself to come to us in His Son Jesus not just to teach us of God’s love, but to give us God’s love through His death and resurrection.
To know the love of God and to love God by loving each other is what it means to be a Christian.
In 1988 Carol Wimmer wrote a poem entitled “When I say I am a Christian.” Here is what she wrote:
When I say… “I am a Christian”
I’m not shouting “I’m clean livin’.”
I’m whispering “I was lost,
Now I’m found and forgiven.”
When I say… “I am a Christian”
I don’t speak of this with pride.
I’m confessing that I stumble
and need Christ to be my guide.
When I say… “I am a Christian”
I’m not trying to be strong.
I’m professing that I’m weak
And need His strength to carry on.
When I say… “I am a Christian”
I’m not bragging of success.
I’m admitting I have failed
And need God to clean my mess.
When I say… “I am a Christian”
I’m not claiming to be perfect,
My flaws are far too visible
But, God believes I am worth it.
When I say… “I am a Christian”
I still feel the sting of pain.
I have my share of heartaches
So I call upon His name.
When I say… “I am a Christian”
I’m not holier than thou,
I’m just a simple sinner
Who received God’s good grace, somehow.
There are many things I like about this poem, however, the last word has always bothered me. I certainly understand what Carol is communicating by saying “somehow” we received God’s love. God’s love and grace is absolutely beyond our comprehension. That God would die for we who are sinners is mind boggling, but as much as it is a mystery, God’s grace given to us is also a real fact that we can know. Why God would have such mercy on us is incredible, but how He did it is clear. God lifted His Son Jesus up on the cross, on a hill for the world to see. It is by faith in the cross of Christ given for us that we receive the love of God.
That is what makes a Christian a Christian. Faith in Jesus.
Thanks for spending time with me in God’s Word, and remember, that God has forgiven yesterday, is with you today and has already taken care of tomorrow. Amen.
