Are You A Christian Or A Christ Follower?

I have come to the realization that some people are not sure if they are Christians or not. So with apologies to Jeff Foxworthy I have come up with this “View From The Pew Guide to Christians.” Or the less official name, “You might be a Christian if…” Follow along and score for yourself. Trust me, there will be a quiz at the end!

• If your car’s rear bumper is held together with bumper stickers warning that your car may be unmanned after the rapture or that Jesus is your co-pilot, you may be a “Christian.”
• If your Sunday lunch is programmed to be done at 12:30 in the afternoon, you may be a “Christian.”
• If you truly believe that a bumper sticker on your car or a tract left on a table is evangelism, you might be a “Christian.”
• If you avoid the newspaper, radio and television because you’re afraid they will rub off on you, you might be a “Christian.”
• If your right arm is permanently bent into an odd shape from carrying your 25 pound family Bible under your arm, you might be a “Christian.”
• If you have a cross made out of railroad spikes around your neck, you might be a “Christian.”
• If you dislike the new music in church, you know, any song written after the 19th century, you might be a “Christian.”
• If your internal clock sets off an imaginary alarm in your head at noon every Sunday, you might be a “Christian.”
• If your favorite Sunday lunch is roast pastor, you might be a “Christian” (or a board member at some of the churches I have pastored).
• If your favorite television personality has a huge bouffant hairdo, inappropriately large jewelry and/or garish eye makeup, you might be a “Christian.” Or a fan of Lady Gaga.
• If you are more concerned with getting out of church on time than on what the preacher is saying, you might be a “Christian.”
• If you have perfected the art of sleeping sitting up straight with your eyes open, you might be a “Christian.”
• If your nose is permanently angled downward so you can look down at others with it better, you might be a “Christian.”

See, that is the problem. So many people believe that Christians are like that. I meet people all the time who tell me that they have no problem with God, it is Christians they don’t like. I told a co-worker the other day that I don’t consider myself a “religious person.” I don’t use the term Christian all the time because we have done such a good job of watering down and compromising the term. Instead, I call myself a “Christ follower.” Being a Christ follower is a high standard, and sometimes I don’t measure up, but I strive to be worthy of the title every day. Let me show you the difference…

• If you are more concerned with those who are hurting than your own comfort, you might be a Christ follower.
• If you are praying for those who try to hurt you or despise you, you might be a Christ follower.
• If you are sincerely trying to make your life conform to what the Bible says it should be, you might be a Christ follower.
• If you are more concerned with living right than having the right bumper sticker, you might be a Christ follower.
• If your friends and family think of you as the person to go to when they have spiritual problems, you might be a Christ follower.
• If you live every day and make every decision based on the words of Christ, you might be a Christ follower.
• If your heart breaks for the people in your neighborhood, home or at work who don’t know Christ, you might be a Christ follower.

Quite a difference, huh? Jesus called us to be salt and light. Salt because it is a preservative, light because it repels darkness. If some of these little jabs made you uncomfortable (or downright angry) before you fire off that email, stop and ask yourself if there is a grain of truth to any of it. Eat the fish and spit out the bones. Doesn’t the life of the Christ follower sound more like what God wants from us than worrying about whether or not our pastor wears a tie? If we’re not careful, we can major in minors and miss the big picture. Christians, we can be more! Christ commands us to be more!
Challenging the saints because I love them… Jerry