I will start with a short example of what makes me Christian. My heart's desire is to reflect Jesus not just by the things that I say but by what I do in interactions with others. It is in interactions with others that Christ' is seen. I was at the store one day recently and there was a person who needed a few cents to purchase something. They did not have the money needed so they were asking everyone around if they had a few cents and no one did. I looked through my purse and found the change they needed. The gratitude for a few coins was remarkable. It was a simple act of kindness that allowed me to reflect Christian character to another person.
This is really a profound question: What makes you Christian, what makes your school a Christian school? I sit back; I watch what goes on in schools that are Christian, and I know that there are many flavors of Christians or so we say. Just to use the word Christian should mean something; does it? But what makes your school a Christian school? How is a "Christian School" different than other types of schools?
There is a personal level of Christianity and an institutional level of Christianity. Before we look at the Christian school though we have to look at the Christian.
It should mean something to say that I am a Christian. I will deal with the personal level of what it means to be a Christian first and then the institutional level in a subsequent post. My focus will always be first and foremost what the Bible has to say about all things. So, Acts11:25-26 talks about being called Christian:
It says, "Then Barnabas went to Tarsus to look for Saul, and when he found
him, he brought him to Antioch. So for a whole year Barnabas and Saul met with
the church and taught great numbers of people. The disciples were called
Christians first at Antioch (NIV)".
What does it mean that they were first called Christian at Antioch, why this designation? There are some specific things that were happening at Antioch while Barnabus and Saul were there. They taught a great number of people. What did they teach them? The scriptures and the ways of Christ. They are called Christian because when the people in the community looked at them, they saw Christ (that is Jesus). They were little Christs. In attitude and actions, they could see the character of Christ lived out in this group of people who were being taught for a year the ways of Jesus. Can you be mistaken for Jesus by the way you interact with others?
To be known as a Christian should not be something that we have to declare ourselves to be. It is not in our church attendance or some other duty that makes us Christian. It should be seen in our actions and attitudes towards others. The New Testament is filled with the simple command "to do good" This is both the simplest and most circumstantial thing that there is about living a Christ centered Christian life. James 4:17 puts it this way, "If anyone, then, knows the good they ought to do and doesn’t do it, it is sin for them." Good is the lifestyle that a Christian should reflect.
We do right because it is the right thing to do.
Comments