The Mark of a Christian

Meditations for Ragamuffins 

March 20, 2024

The Mark of a Christian

For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast.

Ephesians 2:8-9 

There are some spiritual guides who propose that Jesus set forth the central tenet of the Christian faith when he said, “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another” (John 13:34). In Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5, 6, & 7), he gave concrete examples of what love looks like: turning the other cheek, walking the extra mile, and offering no resistance to insult and injury. In other places, Jesus’ teachings included being reconciled with one another and forgiving seventy times seven. Jesus didn’t preface his teaching with, “It would be nice if you . . .” These statements of Jesus are imperatives. Without question, Jesus points to these attributes as evidence that one has chosen to be a disciple of the Messiah. But are they the mark of a Christian?

When I hear Jesus make these statements, I hear him saying, “When you trust me with all of your heart, all of our soul, all of your mind and all of your strength, this is what your life will look like.” For the Jews, Moses was the Law Giver for their covenant relationship with God. If we are not careful, we can turn Jesus into the New Covenant Law Giver. We can do this by receiving Jesus’ imperatives, and then, in our strength and out of our own resources, striving to meet these standards. When we fall short, we will be tempted to minimize our failings; when we have success, we will be tempted to justify our right-standing with God.

My Takeaway: For these reasons, we never, ever, want to stray too far from the Apostle Paul’s most eloquent affirmation that being saved through grace is the mark of a Christian:

“God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God. Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it” (Ephesians 2:8-9).

Sē’lah

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(Selah is a word that appears in the Book of Psalms that I often use as the Complimentary Closing in my correspondence. Its meaning, as I use the word, is to pause and think about these things.)

 

These meditations are written by Alex M. Knight as he seeks the life in Christ as his way of life.  The meditations are published on the BLOG, http://seekingthelifeinchrist.blogspot.com/ and they are also distributed on the Constant Contact email server. You may subscribe to this email service by sending an email to: amkrom812@gmail.com.

 

Copyright © 2024 by Alex M. Knight

 

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.