Hearts of Christian HomeKeepers™

What is a Christian? How do we identify it and how do we determine if someone else is a Christian? How do we teach our children to learn to seek out Christians to follow and learn from?
Just to clarify things, a Christian is one who has accepted the gift of Christ’s death and resurrection for their sins and now has given Christ full reign over their life.
In order to be a Christian you have to actually reach out and accept the gift God is offering. It’s a very personal experience. For some people, like me, accepting gifts comes very naturally so accepting the gift of salvation came easy. For other people there are stages of accepting the gift. It may take some time for it to get from their heads down into their hearts.
How do you determine if someone is a Christian? How do you show the world that you have accepted the gift? The gift God offers is beautiful. It sparkles and looks so bright and inviting. It makes an incredible centerpiece in a home. The fact is being a Christian is so much more than appearances. Many people, including our children, know how to look like a Christian. They dress appropriately for their denomination, they may speak Christianese, they don’t drink, they only listen to hymns, they only watch certain kinds of movies and they only are seen with good people. That’s all wrappings and bows. It’s beautiful but we need to get past the wrappings and bows and see if Christ is really a part of who they are. CS Lewis put it in much better words than I can:

“When they speak of being ‘in Christ’ or of Christ being ‘in them,’ this is not simply a way of saying that they are thinking about Christ or copying Him. They mean that Christ is actually operating through them…” CS Lewis Mere Christianity

Someone who is truly a Christian is not merely playing a part, but has allowed Christ to live through them for His purposes and not their own.
When I was a little girl the secretary in my father’s office would give my father a gift for each of us at Christmas time. Miss Shirley was an older, single lady who really loved my sister and I, maybe because she had no children of her own. Her gifts would reflect her love. They were so beautifully wrapped with lots of little gifts things on the outside. An ornament, some candy, maybe a little doll would all be part of the wrappings. We often would use our gifts as decorations. One year I just never opened the gift. I loved looking at it and showing it off when visitors came over during the holiday season. When it was time to pack up the Christmas decorations I packed up my lovely looking gift with the tinsel and lights. During the summer at a company picnic Miss Shirley asked about the gift she gave me. I gushed over how pretty the package was and told her how I had put it in a safe place so I could save it. A sad look came over her face. “You never opened it?” she asked. “No it’s was too pretty.” “Oh honey, your gift was meant to be opened and used, it would have given you so much pleasure.” Little did I know Miss Shirley had given me a dress I had been pining for but knew my parents could never afford. Now, I wouldn’t be able to fit into it and had to pass it down to my sister.
When looking for Christians we need to see that person has opened the gift God has given them and applied to their lives now. What’s inside needs to be experienced and used for such a time as this. As the Christian grows God will allow the gift to grow and expand with them, unlike my dress.
When the God’s gift is accepted and opened the light and aroma of Christ is evident in a Christian’s life.

The Light
The light chases away any darkness.  The light of God’s love and grace will chase away all the darkness. That’s the nature of light. The way a Christian behaves will reveal the light inside. Now they will have a lighted path before them and they can move with confidence through their lives.
Reflect the light inside to those around you
It’s hard to contain light. Even though light is contained inside a box its rays shine brightly into the room. Christians are like that. They can’t help but shine the light of God’s love and grace everywhere they go. Their joy brings joy to those around them. Their faith helps build faith in those whose path they cross.
Light has the ability to change the environment because you are sure of the gift and the Giver.  How many times have you had someone ask “How do you do it?” The light of Christ in a Christian’s life allows the Christian to effect positive change on their environment because they know they serve a loving and faithful God. Without the gift of salvation no one can have that confidence and assurance.
The Light allows you to see more clearly and want to see more of the Giver.
My mom resisted accepting the gift for years. I had almost given up on her. She kept insisting she was a Christian but there was no fruit at all. I even wondered if there was such a thing as anti-fruit. I gave her a Bible on tape as a birthday gift one year as my last effort to get through. I was so discouraged and I asked the Lord to please reach my mom and to give me some assurance of her accepting His gift of salvation. About a month later my mom called, she was so excited to tell me about the things she was learning by listening to her Bible. She said for the first time in her life, the Bible was making sense. She said she had been asking God to let her know if He was really there and if he was she would do her best to follow him. My mom, who barely has an 8th grade education, is not only understanding but now putting into action and effecting a Godly change in her environment.

The Aroma
Scents permeate every fiber. My sister loves tea roses, her entire home is filled with tea rose potpourri; she wears rose water all the time. Her garden is filled with roses. Everywhere she goes she leaves the fragrance of roses. If you hug her, you now smell of roses. Even after her clothes are washed the scent of roses lingers because she has been wearing rose water for so many years that the scent has permeated everything she owns. When she is not around and I smell rose water, I think of my sister.
As a Christian grows their life will have the sweet aroma of Christ. Christians do things purposefully and prayerfully. All their decisions and reactions are scented by their relationship with Christ. Being a Christian is not something that is taken lightly. Faith permeates every fiber of a Christian’s being just as the fragrance of roses permeates every fiber of my sister’s clothing. You can’t be a Christian in your thoughts only or your feelings only or at spiritual events only. It takes over all of your heart, mind, body and soul.

…becoming a Christian, I warn you you are embarking on something which is going to take the whole of you, brains and all…CS Lewis Mere Christianity

Aroma is obvious but intangible…what do you smell like?

“Our lives are a fragrance presented by Christ to God. But this fragrance is perceived differently by those being saved and by those perishing.” 2Cor. 2:15 NLT

We rent out an apartment that is right next door to us. Our most recent tenants have been quite difficult. They have often said there is something different about us that they find interesting but they also really resented us. Our Christianity is evident to them and it has forced them to come face to face with their rebellious attitude. To them we stink.

Another tenant we had often commented on how we blew her ideas of Christianity right out of the water and now she is looking at Christians in a whole new way. To her, our aroma was attractive.
Christians are obvious to those around them. Some people can’t stand the scent of Christ and others are drawn to it. What do you smell like? Do you smell like the newest perfume on the market? Attractive but not really different from the world. Do you smell like a deodorant…just covering something up? Or do you smell like Christ…real, clean, authentic and don’t cause others to sneeze?
The aroma of a Christian is irresistible and makes others desire the gift
My first job out of college was to work at Estee Lauder. My office was one block away from Lord & Taylor’s and during lunch many of the girls I worked with would go there to check out the latest styles. When the perfume Lauren was first introduced a saleswoman would spray you with it when you came in the door. Coming back to the office smelling like a competitor did not make my employer happy but it did make the rest of us in the office go to buy that new perfume. Its scent was irresistible and we all wanted to smell beautiful and fashionable. It was exciting to be on the cutting edge of the fashion world.
The aroma of a Christian is irresistible. People who are looking to fill the God sized hole in their hearts will detect it and be drawn to you. They will seek you out to learn why you smell so good. They will want to be like you. Then you can point them to the source of your fragrance… the Lord of Lords.

“How little people know who think that holiness is dull. When one meets the real thing it is irresistible.” CS Lewis A Mind Awake

Light and Aroma are not very effective if they are kept boxed or bottled up. The gift of Christianity is not very effective unless it’s applied to every moment of our lives. A Christian doesn’t need shiny wrapping and bows to call attention to their Christianity, they just need to live it.
My husband and son are very involved in Boy Scouts. While planning a camping trip recently one of the leaders was telling the rest about this super deluxe flashlight he received for Christmas. He recommended that everyone get one and pack it for the trip. On the evening they were leaving for the trip no one had a flashlight available. They had packed them away with their gear and the super deluxe flashlight was not helping them at all.

Don’t keep your Christianity packed away where it can do no good to you or anyone else. Let your Christianity be evident to the world because you are filled with the light of Christ and leave His fragrance wherever you go.
Christianity isn’t something that can be kept in a box. A Christian takes these qualities and puts them to use in every area of their lives.

It is a great deal better to live a holy life than to talk about it. Lighthouses do not ring bells and fire cannon to call attention to their shining – they just shine. Dwight L. Moody

This entry was posted on Wednesday, November 11th, 2009 at 2:49 pm and is filed under The Christian Woman's Life. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.