Why Be A Christian?

Many people think that Christianity is just one idea among many, and that it is just a matter of culture which 'religion' one adopts.  I've always liked C. S. Lewis' observation that most people don't care very much about being Christians themselves, but they want their auto mechanics, bankers, and plumbers to be Christians.

If the purpose for being Christian is to be 'a good person,' then it may be true that almost any of the world's religions will do.  But what if the purpose for "putting on Christ" is primarily a relationship, a dance, an entering into the ecstasy of Eternal Motion with the Father, the Son, and the Spirit?  Lewis says that if we want to get warm, we must stand by the fire; if we want to get wet, we must get into the water.  And if we want joy, power, peace, eternal life, Divine Energy, we must get close to the thing that has them.  These are not "prizes" that God hands out to "good" people; this is a fountain of life.  If we are close to the fountain, we will absorb the living water; if we are not close, we will remain dry.

If we enter into the life of Jesus Christ, the life He died as a criminal to impart to us, we will be sharing His own life -- begotten from all eternity.  If we share in His life, we are sons of God.  We will love the Father as Jesus does, and the Holy Spirit will dwell in us as He does in Jesus.  Every Christian is to become a little Jesus.  There is no other reason for becoming a Christian, but to live God's own life, to enter into His eternal dance, to raise our arms in praise and thanksgiving, and to receive "every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms" (Eph. 1:3). 

This is the life we were created for -- the divine life.  Nothing else will satisfy us.

This morning, in prayer, I saw an image of a great king, wearing a crown and splendid robes, holding in his arms a tiny baby -- a newborn.  The king was bending tenderly over the newborn and breathing gently into his mouth and nose, much as I've seen mothers blow into their babies faces very softly.  I understood the image -- that this child was receiving the breath/ spirit of the king, that he would be raised as a child of the king, that he would inherit all that the king owned and was, and that the child was eternally blessed. 

Hours later, I happened to pick up C.S.Lewis and read his comments on getting close to the fire, the ones I have summarized above.  It seemed more than coincidence that I was given the words to explain the vision.  The most wonderful thing of all, to me, is that the new birth is not a reward for being good; everyone in the highways and byways was invited to the banquet in Jesus' parable of the great king.  If we are standing by the roadside and hear the invitation, we're invited to come in -- no auditions necessary!