Christian,
as a meaningful label, has fallen into the gray abyss of abuse and misuse. The word and not the belief system are at
issue here. The word is a great noun: Christian,
Greek Christianos, “follower of Christ”, but makes a poor adjective, being
coupled with all sorts of words that can create categories that limit truth and
blur meaning. Stop ten people, or 50, in
the marketplace and ask them what the word Christian means and you will
probably get as many different answers.
Its connotation today is drawn from people’s experiences, denominational
turf battles, and cultural and political influences, all cobbled together into
indefensible contradictory reflections of the same word, which impose far more
upon the word then ever intended by scripture. Long gone is the awesome wonder
of a loving Father God who passionately pursues us, reaching out of heaven to
do wonderful things in our life. “Christian”
began as a derogatory term coined by the enemies of Christ, an appellation of
ridicule, and is never used in scripture as a name commonly use by Christians
themselves. And Christian only appears three times in scripture... really? Yes,
really! Saint, another great noun, is the label God uses for His blood bought
children: Saint, Greek hagios, “separation, consecration, and devotion to the
service of God, sharing in His holiness and abstaining from earth’s defiling
influences.” There can never be confusion about the meaning of “saint” since
hagios is also translated “Holy” 162 times in scriptures. So... Saint = Holy,
Holy = Saint... got it? It is fitting the use of “Christian” as an identifying
label part company with people who truly love Jesus and have submitted to His Lordship
over their life. God calls these people hagios... Saints, 62 times in New
Testament scripture. Maybe we should let our Father name us... unless we are
uncomfortable with the connotation implied.
NAMED BY GOD
No comments:
Post a Comment