Have you ever wondered what it means to be a Christian? This question is commonly asked and I asked my father as I had more and more questions about the Christian faith. I thought that he might know a bit more than me because his father was a Minister. He told me that being a Christian means two things, it means believing in Christ and living our lives like Christ would.

The first part of this is clearly stated in the most famous verse of the Bible John 3:16. 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. It continues on in verse 17 saying this: For God did not send his son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.  By believing this we will have a straight stair way to heaven and a seat with our name reserved on it right? This is not all.

There is another part of getting to heaven and it is the fact that we have to act like Christ in our everyday lives in order to do so. We must do as he did, and not do as he did not do. Now, this is not to be taken literally. I do not want you not to become a Lawyer or a Doctor because Christ was not a Lawyer or a Doctor. I mean in a far more general sense than that. I mean that we must not do the small things, like excluding others or being unkind to others. This is why we must allow all people to come and worship in the House of God, because that is what Jesus would want us to do. You must not bring harm to others. You must not kill others or steal from others. Jesus did not do any of those things.  It clearly says in first Peter 2:21: For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you might follow in his steps. So we must do as Christ did and also believe in him.

Now, you may ask me the question, what about people who aren’t Christians? Do they get to go to heaven? And the answer is I don’t know?  All I can say is this, God is loving and merciful. We as Christians also must believe that. Romans 5:8 says but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. And Ephesians 2:4 and 5 says this: But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ— by grace you have been saved— It is through the same love that God gave Christ to us, that he forgives us of our sins. He is merciful and forever loving.

My favorite hymn is “The Wonder of it all” written by George Beverly Shea (a Canadian-American gospel singer who was a pure Christian and a good man). Mr. Shea dedicated his life to passing on the words of God by singing (Christ delivered the word of God, not by singing but that does not matter).

I first heard this song at a time when I was in need of the spirit. I had been asking myself these same questions over and over, wondering.  And this simple song gave me the answer. God is loving and merciful. The lyrics to the song are as follows:

Verse 1: There's the wonder of sunset at evening, the wonder as sunrise I see; but the wonder of wonders that thrills my soul is the wonder that God loves me.
Refrain: O, the wonder of it all! The wonder of it all! Just to think that God loves me. O, the wonder of it all! The wonder of it all! Just to think that God loves me.
Verse 2: There's the wonder of springtime and harvest, the sky, the stars, the sun; But the wonder of wonders that thrills my soul. Is a wonder that has only begun. 
Refrain: O, the wonder of it all! The wonder of it all! Just to think that God loves you. O, the wonder of it all! The wonder of it all! Just to think that God loves you.
We do not just think that God loves us, we know it and how wonderful it is. God forgives us and loves us.
We as Christians must believe in these three things: we must believe that Christ died for us. We must believe that we need to follow Christ, and believe that God is loving and truly merciful. If we believe and do these things we will get to heaven.

AMEN