As a new graduate student who traveled from a small university in the southwest corner of Michigan, I am settling in well at AU. One of the places that I enjoy most on my new campus is the Kay Spiritual Life Center, a place I have enjoyed visiting for prayer. As a Christian, I am thrilled that such a place as the Kay Center is available to those seeking an outlet for spirituality on campus, and I am thankful to AU for considering the religious needs of its students. However, when I consider the students on this campus who profess a religious affiliation - particularly those who profess to be Christians, I sometimes wonder if Christians are comfortable with their own faith.
I'm reminded of an afternoon when I was walking on campus and came across a girl who was sitting by herself and cheerfully reading the Holy Bible. In a short conversation, she expressed how excited she was about reading the Bible and went on to indicate that she was Lutheran. I told her it was refreshing to see someone reading a Bible and then we parted ways after friendly small talk.
What I take away from that encounter is a renewed assurance of knowing that there are still Christians on this campus who are confident enough in their faith to read a Bible in plain sight and to talk to a complete stranger about it. I admire that. Unfortunately I can't help but feel that such Christians are increasingly becoming few and far between.
Once upon a time, when someone said "I am a Christian," it meant that they were servants of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. It also meant that they acknowledged the lordship of Jesus by having a personal relationship with Him which included weekly church attendance, daily prayer and Bible study and a life of serving humanity while surrendering all desires to live contrary to the Word of God.
Nowadays, especially in America, "Christian" has become a cute catch phrase with little attached to it at all. Many of those who readily identify themselves as Christians are not going to church very much, not reading their Bibles, not praying and worst of all - not having a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. Their lackadaisical use of the term "Christian" is a horrible dishonor to Jesus and I would go so far as to say that those who use Christianity as a label instead of a lifestyle are taking the Lord's name in vain every time they say "I am a Christian."
Our faith is not a post-it note that we can just tack onto ourselves without a way of living to back it up. We are called to be the light of the world and to live in a way that compels others to "see our good works and glorify the Father in heaven." We are also called to live a sacrificial life. Jesus requires us to pick up a cross every day and follow Him wherever He goes no matter how it inconveniences us. And if in following His teachings others consider us weird or unpopular, and if they call us bigots or intolerant, then it would still serve the world better if we remained bold enough to be the Lord's peculiar treasure despite their scrutiny.
So to all the other Christians on this campus, like the Lutheran girl I mentioned, I encourage you to make a visible and vibrant lifestyle out of your faith like she did. Christians were not placed in this world or even on this campus for any other primary purpose than to lift up the name of Jesus and to serve humanity like Jesus did.
If we continue to remove the requirements of our faith from our lifestyles while making accommodations for the things society defines and redefines, we will have gained the whole world and lost our souls. But if we insert meaning into the title "Christian" by living a distinguished lifestyle of servitude, surrender and sacrifice, then we shall see the Lord coming on a cloud in power and great glory and He shall say in our hearing, "well done good and faithful servant, enter into the rest of thy Lord."
Andre Weston Graduate Student, School of Communication