We’ve been talking about the idea that there is not much to faith – simply believing one step at a time that Jesus will save me and keep me. I may have doubts, but those doubts are not the same as unbelief. Having doubts simply means I am continuing to ask questions which implies I am seeking the truth. Unbelief is when I stop asking questions and no longer seek the truth. So becoming a Christian is believing that Jesus will save or rescue me, simply putting my trust in him.
But there are those who will say that being a Christian involves much more. What about going to church? What about doing God’s will? What about discipleship and growing in spirituality and becoming more like Christ?
Let me ask you a question. Say this friend believes in Jesus today. We say she is saved when she believes. If she starts going to church, reaching her lost friends, reading her Bible, praying, helping the poor, does she become more saved? No. She will never be more saved than she is the moment she believes. A missionary in the most remote corner of the earth is not more of a Christian than an old man who has just said yes to Jesus and then dies and goes straight to heaven.
It’s like a boy who is drowning in a lake and a lifeguard goes out to rescue him. Once the lifeguard has rescued him he is saved from drowning. Does he become more saved because later on he thanks the lifeguard or takes swimming lessons or writes a book about the experience? No. There aren’t degrees to being saved from drowning. You either are or you are not. And there are not degrees to being a Christian. The difference is whether or not you believe in Jesus.
Some people say you can’t sin and be a Christian. I don’t know any Christians who no longer sin. In fact, anyone who say they no longer sin is committing the sin of pride.
Okay then what about those who sin worse kinds of sin. What does that mean? Are you more likely to go to hell if you kill someone than if you think in your heart, “I wish that person were dead”? Jesus says one is the same as the other. What kind of sin will separate you from God? Any sin, no matter what kind or degree or how much you do it. Doesn’t matter. Any and all sin separates us from God, meaning we are lost and in need of a savior.
What about a Christian who struggles with sin? Try as they might they are still tempted. First of all, no matter how much temptation you have, that is still not sin. Sin is not the desire or temptation to do something you shouldn’t do. Jesus himself was tempted – and tempted as we are. Sin is dwelling on that desire or temptation and following through with it – either in thought or action. So temptation is not a sign that you are less spiritual, let alone less saved.
But what about the person who keeps sinning even after they are saved. They keeping failing and falling, try as they might. Sounds like an addiction. Our faith says that Jesus frees us from addictions. If I believe in Jesus and still am addicted to nicotine, for example, a very hard addiction to break, does this make me less saved than if I did break that habit or never had it in the first place? No. Believing in Jesus is not the same as achieving perfection.
Try as we might, we cannot put any more conditions on becoming a follower of Jesus than Jesus does. A Christian means so many different things these days, I prefer the appellation "Believer", though I guess some could quibble with me and say “Believer” doesn’t specify in what. Originally the word “Christian” meant someone who believes in or follows the teachings of Jesus. Such a belief does not have any direct connection with whether they are American or Thai, whether they are politically liberal or conservative, whether they smoke or don’t smoke.
The only factor is whether or not they believe in Jesus. Jesus makes it so simple, it is hard for us to accept.
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