BEING THE PERSON THAT GOD DESIRES YOU TO BE

 BY STEVE DUNN

A whole lot of people think that "good" Christians are people who do good things.  In fact, a whole lot of Christians believe that, too.  Usually, though, the measure of that in people's minds includes keeping the 10 commandments, being a "church goer," knowing the Bible, keeping Christ in Christmas, not working on Sundays, etc., choosing wholesome activities over "worldly" ones.  Doing typically "religious" things.  This list makes for comfortable people who can call themselves "Christians."

Ironically, except for the "church-going" part, that is also a description of "good people" who would not call themselves Christians.

The Bible actually teaches something different about this. Christians desire to be righteous (another word for holy).  Not righteous in a prideful or self-serving sense.  Righteous meaning "having the right relationship with God."  In other words, we desire to have hearts like God's heart, to live by the values that God intends for us, and behave towards our world as God wants the world treated.

In case you don't know what the answer to that last statement, you need only read John 3:16 and 17:

"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.  For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him."

Genuine Christians aspire to be the person God desires them to be.  How do they know what looks like?

It looks like Jesus.