What's in a name?

Read Acts 2:42-47

Christian.

We use the word a lot. We call ourselves by it. If someone asks what we believe, we say that is what we are. Are we?

The word started nearly 2,000 years ago as a slur in the city of Antioch in what is modern day Syria. It is literally translated; "little Christ" and was intended to mock the believers in the newest religious movement of the time. Over the years, it came to be embraced by believers as a badge of honor. More years passed and it's meaning has changed to a more ambiguous moniker for any person or group even loosely associated with a church. Many of us, especially in the west, who use the name to describe our faith, don't really resemble anything close to Christ Himself, not even a little.

For this reason, I personally don't prefer to refer to myself as a Christian. I know I don't deserve such a title: I just don't measure up.

The believers in the early days of the Church were active neighbors. This is, after all, the second greatest commandment; "Love your neighbor as much as you love yourself." They sold possessions and used the money to care for the needs of others. They shared what they had with those around them.

There are grand cathedrals in Europe which sit empty on a Sunday, or have been repurposed because no one bothers to go anymore. Here in North America, congregations of Bible preaching Churches continue to shrink. We're comfortable. We're Lot in a land of indulgence.

Lot lived in a land of selfishness, Godlessness, and excess. He was comfortable. His faith didn't spill out to those around him. He lost his home, his wife, and the innocence and integrity of his children. In the end, God spared his life, but even then he didn't really change.

So too do we live, surrounded by excess and indulgence, even surrounding ourselves with those who tell us what we want to hear instead of what we need. These voices tell us that we deserve to indulge, while the Christ of the Bible was "a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief," who Himself said, "it is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven.

Religion isn't about what I can get, or how I can benefit. The Apostle James wrote that "pure religion" is to care for the less fortunate (paraphrased). James spends a good bit of time telling his readers not to elevate the rich over the poor, but here we are, doing just that in western society. For certain, having wealth is no sin, but loving wealth, as the Apostle Paul wrote "is the root of all sorts of evil."

If our faith is real, we will step out of our comfortable spaces, love our neighbors, and focus not on what we want, but what is best for those around us. Lot's failure wasn't that he didn't speak out about the excess and indulgence around him. Lot's failure was indulging in that excess. He was comfortable.

So, I pray that god will work in me so I can seek to touch the lives of those around me in a tangible way, not judging their actions since that is not my place, but rather showing them they are loved. In time, God will work to correct their self-destructive behaviors, but I am called to love my neighbor, to be a "little Christ", and to live a life of service, not a life of selfishness. I pray that others who may read this would be convicted in much the same way.