A Christian is one who follows
Christ. J.R. Miller, Young People's Problems,
1898. You must receive Christ as your
Master and Lord. A Christian is one who follows
Christ. This means the surrender of the
whole life to Him. The heart must be given up. There
can be no Christian life without love to Jesus. Jesus demands
the first place in the affections of His followers. If anyone loves
father or mother, brother or sister, wife or child more than
Him, he is not worthy of Jesus and cannot be His disciple. But
the most perfect obedience, if the heart is not in it, would
not make one a Christian. We might devote our life and
strength to Christian work, toiling unweariedly in the service of
the church, giving our money lavishly for the advancement
of Christianity or for the relief of suffering, and yet not be
Christians. Love for Christ must be the motive
at the heart of all our work for Christ. Do you love me is
the test. But the heart draws the whole
life after it. If we truly love Jesus, we will
obey Jesus. If you love me, keep my commandments. You are my friends if you do
whatever I command you. We cannot accept Christ as our
Savior and not at the same time accept Him as our Lord and Master. We must begin at once to obey
Him. Our obedience must be without
reserve, without condition, without question. It must also be cheerful
and glad-hearted, not compulsory, reluctant, or constrained. Christians
are soldiers of Christ, and the soldier's first duty is to obey. Whether the will of Christ is
made known to us in His Word, through our own conscience, or
in providence, we should always promptly and cheerfully accept
and obey. It may not always be easy, it
may be very hard and costly, but when the will of our Master
is made known, if we are His followers, we can only obey,
and our obedience should be sweet with love. We love Him because
He first loved us. We know Him because He first
calls us. Christ is ours, and we are Christ's. Being a Christian is living out
His same life of love, obedience, surrender, and service through
all the days. As Christians, we are to live
out the 13th chapter of 1 Corinthians. Love is patient. Love is kind. It does not envy. It does not
boast. It is not proud. It is not rude. It is not self-seeking. It is
not easily angered. It keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil,
but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts,
always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails. True faith
will make us more gentle, more patient, more unselfish. A Christian life is a new Christ
life lived out in this world. We are to be Christ to others. The heart of the Christian should
be a well of living water, a fount of holy and blessed influences,
whose streams flow in all directions, carrying comfort, cheer, encouragement,
help and gladness to every other life they reach. Mere orthodoxy
of belief does not make one a Christian, nor does attention to church
rituals and rules. A Christian is one in whom the
life of Christ pulses, and the love of Christ glows and burns.