What is a Christian?

What is real Christianity? We can toss around a lot of heady theological ideas, pithy sayings, and lame jokes but the reality is that trying to tell someone what their walk with Christ is supposed to look like telling a parent how to raise their kids. You can give some good pointers, but in the end it comes down to the personalities of the people involved.

We often describe Christianity as a “personal relationship with Jesus” but then deny people to make it personal too who they are. Instead of allowing them the freedom to express the unique skill sets and gifts that God provided them with we try to turn them into a cookie cutter version of what we think a “good Christian” looks like. (When someone finds this so called “good Christian” let me know.) While living by a set of rules may seem to make things easier it actually robs us of the true beauty of what Jesus accomplished on The Cross. When I became a Christian God didn’t swap out my jeans and t-shirt for a suit and tie. He did, however, swap out my self-centered, sinful, degenerate heart for a heart that desires to please Him, and confesses and repents of sin. How this works its self out on a daily basis varies widely from person to person. My personality and context, for example, is very different from my mother’s thus “being a Christian” looks different for the two of us. I’m a 28 year old man at an urban college campus in Denver. My mom is a middle aged woman living in east central Indiana. Because of this trying to apply what is an effective way for my mom to live out The Gospel within her context would crash and burn if I tried to act, talk, and live the same way in my environment.

There are common traits that all Christians should share although the way they get fleshed out may look very different. The most basic beliefs of Christianity include believing that we’re all born sinners, that Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection are the only payment for that sin, that the Bible is the Holy, inerrant, divinely inspired word of God, that cannot be added to or subtracted from, and that we are supposed to live our lives in light of these truths.

Trying to apply a formula to something that was meant to be crafted around a unique, personal relationship will only bring despair when we fail, or pride when we succeed, but never true repentance and joy.