Let’s read the following Bible verses:
John 1:12 – “Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God”.
Romans 10:9 – “If you declare with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved”.
Based on those verses, we can define, as Christian, someone that accepted Jesus inside of his/her heart. Therefore, if someone believes that Jesus came to save and confesses Jesus Christ as his/her Lord and Savior, this person becomes a Christian, also becoming part of the family of God.
John 3:16 also states that “whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life”. That means that, as now part of the family of God, we, Christian, become free from the condemnation of living in a place of suffering throughout the eternity. As Christians, we have a special connection with God, who becomes our Father! A spiritual connection! A deep kind of relationship!
All this is amazing; however, that is not all! As stated in Matthew 28:19, as disciples of Jesus, we were also commissioned with the mission of going everywhere, making more disciples. Why? Because the entire world has to know that Jesus Christ is the only way to salvation. Only Him can save us from eternal suffering! He is the truth we have been seeking! People need to know that! People need to know that they are not alone! They are not a mistake! They are not a problem! They need to know that there is solution and hope! They need to discover true happiness.
And how will people know about all this if we, Christians, do not tell them? For sure, God is almighty, omniscient, omnipresent and omnipotent; He can find ways to reveal Himself to people with or without us. However, we were commissioned to make disciples. God decided to give us this assignment! God decided He needs us to reveal Jesus to others.
The Bible calls us, Christians, the Body. Who is the head? Jesus! Therefore, as in a physical body, members and head exist united and work together! A body cannot function without its head and vice-versa. God wants to reveal Himself to those who do not know Him; however, as His body, we have to partake on this mission. In Matthew 5, Jesus says that we are the light of the world. Nobody can find the way in the darkness! As light, we need to shine bright for people to find the way. In John 14:6, Jesus says that He is the way, the truth and the life! That is amazing!
Light and the way are connected; Christians and Christ are connected! We need to be the light for people to find Jesus. And, since we are united with Christ, we should strive to be the way He is. Now, you may exclaim: “That is impossible! Jesus is Jesus! I am just me! I cannot behave like Jesus”. However, let’s not forget that Jesus came as a human being. He was born into this world from a woman’s womb! Jesus was obedient to God’s instructions. In John 5:30, He says: “I seek not to please myself but him who sent me”. He did not live seeking to fulfill vain pleasures; His pleasure was to fulfill God’s will!
We are now able to put off our old self, which belonged to the former living before accepting Christ into our lives. Now, we can rejoice and enjoy a brand new relationship with God, a deeper and more intimate relationship. Our spiritual selves got connected to God! We now have with Him an enduring relationship that never fails. The same way, the body and the head are physically connected, we are spiritually connected to Christ; now, we can live after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness (Ephesians 4). We now share the same nature, since we are now His body.
We need to understand that there is a will of God for each one of us. Imagine a body in which the head wants to do something, but the rest of the members want to do something completely different. The body will surely collapse! It will not be able to stand for long! It will not develop! As Christians, we cannot develop if our focus is to fulfill desires that are opposite to God’s character. In order to grow, we need to be in tune with our Head – Jesus!
Our Christian life is more than just our own salvation. We need to declare the reality of Jesus to others! We need to save others too! Imagine that you are in a ship that is wrecking! As much as it is amazing to be able to jump in a lifeboat to save ourselves, there are others that also need salvation! It is a tragic story to be the only one saved from a shipwreck! Friends and family members also need salvation! Many others also need salvation! That is our mission! Even though we are in a lifeboat, we also need to show others that they can also jump into the lifeboat!
That is the true meaning of being a Christian! In an airplane, we are advised that, in case of emergency, we need to put our own oxygen mask first, in order to help others. In Christian life, we were saved to save others! There is job to do! There are people out there needing rescue! We carry what people need! We carry the Good News! Let’s tell others the amazing transformation that is happening inside of us through Christ!