Who Says You Are a Christian?

One of the most sobering thoughts I have encountered is this:
Almost anyone can claim almost any identity.
A person can say he is a humanist, a Buddhist, a capitalist, an environmentalist, a minimalist, or a hundred other things. Whether he consistently lives according to those beliefs is another matter, but the identity itself usually begins with self-identification. He says he is one, therefore he claims the label.
Christianity is different.
A person can call himself a Christian for decades and still not belong to Christ.
That statement sounds harsh until we realize it came from Jesus Himself.
“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven.” (Matthew 7:21, ESV)
Notice what Jesus did not say. He did not say these people had never heard of Him. He did not say they were atheists, pagans, or opponents of the faith. They called Him “Lord.” They believed they belonged to Him. Yet Jesus warned that some would discover they had been mistaken.
That should cause every believer to pause.
The Christian faith is unique because its defining question is not ultimately, “What do I say about myself?” The defining question is, “What does God say about me?”
A Christian is not someone who merely adopts a label. A Christian is someone whom God has redeemed, justified, adopted, and made alive in Christ. Salvation does not begin with our declaration about God. It begins with God’s work in us.
This is why Scripture repeatedly calls believers to examine themselves.
“Examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith.” (2 Corinthians 13:5, ESV)
That command would be unnecessary if claiming to be a Christian automatically made someone a Christian.
The goal of self-examination is not endless doubt. It is honest reflection. Do I love Christ? Do I trust Him? Do I desire Him? Am I growing in obedience? Do I see evidence of the Holy Spirit at work in my life? Not perfection, but direction.
Many people know about Jesus.
Far fewer know Him.
The deeper I study Scripture, the more convinced I become that the most important identity question in the world is not who I think I am, who others think I am, or even who I hope I am.
The question is this:
When God looks at me, does He see one of His children?
That is not a question to answer casually.
It is a question worth examining carefully, prayerfully, and honestly.
Because in the end, every other label will pass away.
What God says about us will remain forever.