To try and be a Christian has been the most difficult task I have ever undertaken. It goes against all my natural inclinations.  I have had to change my thought processes.  I have had to alter my reactions.  I have had to curb my behavior.  I have had to corral my emotions. I have had to address my lifestyle.

I have had to love people I wanted to hate.  I have had to hate things I wanted to love.  I have had to forsake things I wanted to hold on to. I have had to hold on to things I wanted to discard.

I have had to become a new creature, a new creation.  Old things have passed away.  I have had to start all over again. I have not been a resounding success.  I have not always passed with flying colors.  I am trying. I want to be a Christian more than anything else in this world.  It is the only accolade I seek.  When I die all I ask is that people can say, “He was a Christian!”

It is tough to do.  I admit it is hard. It is hard to turn the other cheek.  It is hard to love your enemies.  It is hard to do good and pray for them that despitefully use you.  It is hard not be angry at a brother.  It is hard to not call him a fool. When they sue me for my coat it is hard  to give them my cloak also.

It is hard not to judge my brother. It is hard to love by the mandates of Christianity. Being a Christian is the hardest job I have ever undertaken.  I have been at it for over 45 years and I am still trying.

I am not talking about acting like a Christian, I am talking about being one.

Sometimes I do not know how to be a Christian.  I want to, I try to, but it is so against my emotions, my thoughts, my natural reactions and tendencies.  If you can say you truly have made it I congratulate you!  It is a monumental task and the effort of a lifetime.

If you can read Matthew chapter five, six, and seven, and measure up, I salute you.  I am still working on it.

Mahatma Ghandi was a world changer.  He is the father of modern India.

In Mahatma Ghandi’s autobiography, he makes a statement that is crushing.

Ghandi went to Oxford University and encountered the teaching of Jesus for the first time.  He said he had found what he had searched for all his life in Jesus’ teaching.  On his way back to India, he stopped in North Africa for a few weeks.  It was there he encountered some so called Christians.  When he boarded the ship for India he had discarded the teachings of Jesus.

Ghandi: I like your Christ, I do not like your Christians

His statement was “I like your Christ, I do not like your Christians. I would have been a Christian, but for Christians.”

I do not want to just say I am a Christian, I want to be one!

Thanks for reading today!

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