Real Christianity

By David Hobbs

There is some question about what is real Christianity. Ninety percent of Americans claim to believe in God, something like 75% claim to be born again, many wear Christian jewelry. How many of these who profess the title "Christian" are the genuine article? How many would Christ say were His own if he were to return today?

To be a lot of things, like say to be a Democrat or a Republican, it requires adherence to a set of beliefs: government is the answer/private enterprise is the answer; taxes are either “our fair share” or “illegal confiscation of citizen wealth;” morality is important/is not important… you know the issues that separate one from the other.

Likewise, to call yourself an environmentalist, you need to ascribe to what they believe in. The same with evolutionist, feminist, birther… whatever it might be. To call yourself one, you need to believe what they believe, to hold their doctrines as truth.

So to be a Christian, you need to believe in what…? The Ten Commandments? Creationism? The Bible? TheTrinity?

Ah but that’s where Christianity is different. You can believe in all the Christian doctrines and even call yourself a Christian, and still not be one in the eyes of Jesus! Jesus said we must be born-again; we must be born of the Spirit. But many even who claim to be born-again, I doubt if their names are written in heaven. Jesus said

“Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it. [Matt. 7:13-14]

Not long ago I was at my church for one of my late-night prayer times. I was worshipping and waiting on the Lord when I sang one of my favorite songs by my friend Mike Payne, “When He was on the Cross, I was on His Mind.”

A look of love was on His face, the thorns upon His head
His blood fell on that scarlet robe, and stained it crimson red
Though His eyes were on the crowd that day, He looked ahead in time
When He was on that cross, I was on His mind.

As I sang it I began weeping, as I often do, as I saw in my mind’s eye Jesus, on the cross, with all the pain and agony He was suffering: and all the drama swirlinmg around Him: people cursing Him, disciples abandoning Him, priests mocking Him, crowd rejecting Him… still He had the presence of mind to rise above the pain and drama and look down over two thousand years of history and see me, David Hobbs, and my need of a Savior, and see Himself reaching out to rescue me in love--all made possible by what He was going through right then on the cross.

The Bible says “for the joy set before Him he endured the cross, scorning its shame” [Heb. 12:2]. What was that joy set before Him? To be united again with His Father in heaven? To be given a resurrected body that could go through walls and never die or suffer? No! It was the joy of seeing you and me forgiven and cleansed from our old way of life, and living with Him forever.
And it was all done out of love, with no assurance that any of us would ever accept Him and what He did for us. The Bible says that while we were still enemies of God, Christ died for us [Rom. 5:8], in faith, that we would someday accept His offered gift of eternal life and be born-again.

As I was experiencing this again in my prayer closet like I have so many times before, the thought came to me that this was what differentiates the real Christians—at some point in time they have this revelation and lay hold of it. It’s not really a doctrine to believe in; it’s a revelation of God’s love for you expressed through His death on the cross that you see and embrace: for you, personally and individually—when He was on that cross, you were on His mind.
All the trappings of Christianity—the jewelry, vestments, incense, bells, candles, altar calls, shouting evangelists, tent meetings, prayer meetings, steeples, cathedrals, sanctuaries… well they all fit in there somewhere, but none of them are the main event that separates a true Christian from a “name-only” Christian. To cross over that line requires a revelation—“when He was on that cross, I was on His mind.”