Written by David P. Nolte
From Dave's Den:
Sunday while Billy Lanham was helping with Opening Exercises, my 6 year old Grandson, Tommy, looked over and asked, "Why is he playing that round guitar?" I explained that it was a banjo and he thought that was a pretty funny name for a round guitar.
If you call it a round guitar or a banjo, it still sounds mighty good under the nimble fingers of Billy Lanham. You might say, "A banjo by any other name would sound as sweet!" (Apologies to Shakespeare!)
Abe Lincoln used to say, "If you call a tail a leg, how many legs does a dog have?" Someone might say, "Well, five legs!" To which Abe would reply, "No, only four. Calling a tail a leg doesn't make it a leg."
The Bible says that the disciples were "first called Christians at Antioch" (Acts 11:26). But being called a Christian and being a Christian are two different things. If we study the Bible in each place where the word "Christian" is used, we will discover some interesting things about being Christian.
The first place we see it used is in connection with the word disciples (Acts 11:26). The implication being that Christians are disciples of Jesus Christ; learners who are being taught, molded, shaped into His likeness and will.
The second place the word is used is in Acts 26:28: "And Agrippa replied to Paul, 'In a short time you will persuade me to become a Christian.'" A Christian, then, is one who is persuaded. We are persuaded that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the Living God; we are persuaded that He rose from the dead, ascended, reigns at the right hand of God and will return. We too are persuaded, with Paul, that God is able to keep what we commit to Him until that Day.
The third use of the word is in 1 Peter 4:16: "but if anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not feel ashamed, but in that name let him glorify God." A Christian is one who is not ashamed to take his blows for Jesus; who doesn't hide his light under a bushel, who doesn't lose his saltiness; one who speaks out even in the face of hostile opposition and certainty of persecution.
So, wear the name in integrity, sincerity and truth. Be, don't merely be called, Christian!
Yours for Him, Dave