Challenged

A book I am reading put forth a challenging question:
What does being a Christian really mean to me?

It means that my life is not my own. I do not live life to please only myself, I live to please my Lord. I wish I could say that I live up to that ideal, but I often (sometimes daily) fall short. In spite of my faults and weaknesses (which are plenteous), it truly is my heart's desire that my life would bring glory and honor my Lord.

It means that I am loved with an everlasting love, by One who was willing to die for me. Therefore, when I fall short, I do not need to fear, His grace is always there. What amazing love! When I am faithless, He remains faithful.

It means that I believe that all people were created in the image of the One I love. For that reason, I need to show respect to and treat everyone with dignity, regardless of differing beliefs, opinions, lifestyles, etc. Some have said that this belief is conceited, thinking that Christians are created in the image of God, in fact it is the opposite. This belief is the great equalizer. It means that there is no one that I am too good to serve, there is no one who is not good enough, everyone is worthy of respect simply by the fact of their existence.

Being a Christian means 3 basic things to me:
1. I am loved.
2. I love God in response to His love, and seek to live a life that brings glory and honor to the name of Jesus Christ.
3. I love others. They are also people created in His image, for whom He gave His life, for whom He suffered and died and rose again so that they could discover that they are loved.

Matthew 22:34-40
But when the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sadducees with his reply, they thought up a fresh question of their own to ask him. One of them, an expert in religious law, tried to trap him with this question: "Teacher, which is the most important commandment in the law of Moses?" Jesus replied, "'You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.' This is the first and greatest commandment. A second is equally important: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' All the other commandments and all the demands of the prophets are based on these two commandments."

2 Corinthians 5:21
For God made Christ, who never sinned, to be the offering for our sin, so that we could be made right with God through Christ.