A Question of Authenticity

CHRISTIAN: –adjective
1. of, pertaining to, or derived from Jesus Christ or His teachings: a Christian faith.
2. of, pertaining to, believing in, or belonging to the religion based on the teachings of Jesus Christ: Spain is a Christian country.
3. of or pertaining to Christians: many Christian deaths in the Crusades.
4. exhibiting a spirit proper to a follower of Jesus Christ; Christlike: She displayed true Christian charity.
5. decent; respectable: They gave him a good Christian burial.
6. human; not brutal; humane: Such behavior isn't Christian.
–noun
7. a person who believes in Jesus Christ; adherent of Christianity.
8. a person who exemplifies in his or her life the teachings of Christ: He died like a true Christian.

I see the word emblazoned on headlines, read political commentary about so-called "Christians" claiming their contradictorily amorphous beliefs on political platforms (and shifting those beliefs as quickly as they read poll reaction to their declarations), and hear it describing people who fit no part of the word's definition. MOST of the pictures that people paint for their public images fail to match the Lord's love and power to free our needy humanity from sin and its ultimate consequence, a deathly separation from a caring God.

Personally, I want more from me. I want and expect more from me. Honestly, I believe that God wants more from me, too.

This blog was not intended to be a faith-walk journal; I just had some prayers within my heart that found their way on my Vaio's screen. Writing here and searching through Scripture, I see where I stood with God before this blog began and where I am now. I was a nice, peace-thinking sinner before, but I was NOT a Christian. I could talk nice things to nice people about anything. I could curse people with the same mouth that prayed for God's help in my concerns. I could excuse me for making immoral decisions by saying within, Lord, I know I'm wrong, but I know, too, that you can forgive me. I was no better than a man who beats his wife to a bloody pulp and then begs her forgiveness with false promises that "it'll never happen again." I was guilty of hypocrisy and a long list of other personal sins that I swept under a figurative rug because I didn't want to face me. Boy, was I an idiot!

That changed when I accepted the truth: God, and not my good deeds, had to clean me. I prayed for God's forgiveness, knowing from Scripture that Jesus had made the only blood sacrifice that could defeat sin completely in my life, and asked the Lord to enter my ENTIRE life and being (I didn't want to get it wrong ever again!). I acknowledged fully that I had to reach to God according to the terms HE made and that I had to scrap my faulty list of "do-good deeds" if I wanted to live a meaningful life of purpose in this life and see Heaven in the next. I found a Savior Who could free me from my sin and help me to live a happy and holy life. No longer doubtful or wondering, I became an authentic Christian, saved by grace and empowered to live a holy life by the Spirit of God.

God used a blog to help me see through all my personal lies to the truth of His Word and His salvation through Jesus Christ. My hope is that He will reach others in the same way.

One more thing: DO NOT TAKE MY WORD ALONE! Open the Bible, take a look at the books of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, and see for yourself what Jesus did for us! Ask God to prove that He is real and that He does what He says in that 66-book love letter to mankind called the Bible. How else will you believe it?

Peace and blessings,

A New Man