THE MARK OF A CHRISTIAN - SLIGHTLY IMPERFECT

Whilst I was searching a book site on the internet I came across this one. “The Mark of a Christian.” That was the title of the book, but in the details it said the book was slightly imperfect.

Put the two together and you have the answer to a much discussed question. “What is the mark of a Christian”…slightly imperfect.

So is being slightly imperfect the mark of a Christian? The word of God gives us an answer. It says that “All have sinned and come short of God’s glory.” (Romans 3:23). That verse alone would suggest that we are more than slightly imperfect.

Then it goes on to say that there is not one who is righteous (Romans 3:10) so it is no use claiming some sort of holier than thou or I have done good deeds that merits some consideration.

Interestingly you get paid to sin. “The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life.” (Romans 6:23). Inflation has no effect on these wages.

Romans 8:2, tells us that the “Law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death.” Even though we are no way perfect, there is an antidote, the law of the Spirit of Life in Christ.

People do not realise that they live under a law of some kind, voluntary or involuntary. To live under the law of sin and death which every unbeliever does, is a choice that you make when you reject the salvation God offers through Jesus Christ.

To live under the law of the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus enables you not to be captive to the law of sin and death. Many people have this strange idea that to accept the teachings of the Christian life is to obey a lot of do’s and don’ts.

It can be that if you never get beyond religious observance and ritual. But if you have a full measure of the law of the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus, it is totally liberating. This law is what it says it is…LIFE!!!

As the bible teaches death no longer has any sting and no longer has any victory or hold over you. (1 Corinthians 15:55). What that means is that death for the believer is not the end; it is the beginning of something extraordinary. An eternal salvation for a perfect person.

But aren’t we at least slightly imperfect? Well you might ask. The old unregenerate man not only is not slightly imperfect, it is a complete waste of space, but, and this is important, as a regenerated being we are complete in Christ (Colossians 2:10). Not nearly complete or one day complete, but complete now.

However, it does tells us that we are dead, and our life is hid with Christ in God (Colossians 3:3)

So the answer is a dead man or woman cannot be slightly imperfect or perfect when push comes to shove. All we can be is dead…as a dodo and let the perfection of Christ live through us.

Therefore the mark of a Christian is nothing more than the fact that he or she is…dead.

That should make you “dead keen” as a Christian.