A Good Christian
Pat Peck
10/7/98
A Good Christian
I have a good friend. He is kind, gentle, considerate of others, an all round good guy. He doesn't drink alcohol or abuse his body with tobacco. He doesn't destroy his mind and life through illicit drugs. I've never heard him gossip or tell a single lie. He doesn't waste his time in night clubs or dance halls or beer joints. I can't recall ever hearing him speak with profanity or vulgarity. And he's never cheated a soul in a business deal. Like I said he's an all round good guy. He hardly ever argues with anyone and I have never seen him get into a fight. He gets along well with everyone from children to adults. Even as the years have passed along he is still not grouchy or cranky around people. Many would call my friend a good Christian. And yet you ought to know that I have been describing my dog.
We must learn that being a Christian involves more than merely not doing evil. Being a Christian concerns submission to Christ, living by faith, and doing good as well.
Christ taught,
If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me. Luke 9.23. Complete and total submission to Christ is essential if we would be called by His name.
The world holds many good, honest souls who are not maliciously engaged in the blackest of evils. Many of these good, moral citizens are our neighbors, our friends, our relatives. They may, in some cases, be more moral than some nominal members of the church. But they are not, by virtue of their upstanding lifestyles, to be confused with
good Christians. Not until one comes to Christ and obeys the gospel is he or she a Christian. No man can live a pure enough life to save himself, and there is still
no other name given to save us, only the name of Christ. Acts 4.12. Remember, there is a world of difference between my dog and a good Christian.
—PAT PECK
