Being a Christian involves more than calling yourself a Christian. Many people today who claim to be Christian do not realize that it requires a commitment from yourself to God. That commitment is that you live for Jesus Christ.

What does that mean, living for Christ? It means you live to spread His message. It's more than a mere affection; it should be an attachment and a deep commitment to the fact that the only way to heaven is through Jesus Christ. The only way to eternal life is through belief and acceptance of Him as our Savior. And it is through His love that we should live. His love for us should encourage us to live our lives dedicated to God.

The message of Christ was the forgiveness of God. Someone that is living for Christ understands that he has been given forgiveness even when he did not deserve it. It should change you. What you were before you were forgiven no longer has to be what you are now. What does that mean?

It means you were guilty

Basically, you were destined for hell. We all were. And we deserved it. Through humanity's cunning, murder, thievery and everything else, we grew further and further away from God. It was only certain people under certain circumstances that could communicate directly with God. There was a divide between us; that fact that we were stuck in death and had a hard time grabbing on to life.

But God changed that

That was not enough for God. He wanted to close that divide. And He did it in the most miraculous way possible; He sent His son to die for us. He broke that curse that we had created, and destroyed the sin that we had committed. He defeated death with death to give us life. And because of this, we are free from that burden. We are given hope; we have a place in eternity with God.

That should make us want to live for Christ. It's more than being a foreign missionary. Its more than volunteering at the homeless shelter or working in your local church. It's making this message so ingrained in who you are that you can't help but share it with the world. And it might even mean giving your life for Christ. Persecution is mentioned in the Bible as something that will happen to Christians. Philippians 1:21 says that "For me, living is Christ and dying is gain." Should we want to die? No. But if we are faced with death, then dying for Christ is only the first part of an eternal life with Him. As William Barclay once said,

Love always involves responsibility, and love always involves sacrifice. And we do not really love Christ unless we are prepared to face His task and to take up His Cross.