When you consider the word "Christian," what's the first definition that comes to your mind? Here's my off-the-top-of-my-head answer: someone who follows Christ and Christ's teachings. I'll bet your definition is similar. However, I've come to discover lately that this definition is not the totality of the answer.

This personal journey of redefining the terms of Christianity begin in me while reviewing some Ramp footage from December of 2008. While introducing his sermon, Damon Thompson stated that to be a Christian you must not only follow Christ, but also be in possession of the attributes of Christ. We must not only read and believe His teachings, but also express His very nature through our lives. Now, this may seem to be only stating the obvious for you, but for me, this redefinition has been a paradigm altering discovery.

I began to see in my own life how I was a follower of Christ, but not a possessor of Christ. I can read scripture, agree with what I read, even teach what I read, but the very nature of Christ living through my body is a whole different story. The compassionate heart of Jesus in my chest is different than agreeing mentally that giving to the poor is right. Hatred for compromise is different than a disciplined life that's learned how to dodge temptation. The fear of God and utter deadness to the opinions of men cannot be learned by refining outward behavior. I need an encounter with the cross.

The cross is the place where true Christianity begins. Therefore, the cross is where we not only agree that Jesus was right in His teachings, but where we possess His Spirit. Before an encounter with the cross, there is nothing in us that remotely looks like Christ. Romans 3:10, 11 says, "There is none righteous, no, not one; there is none who understands; there is none who seeks after God." Even perceived human goodness is evil in the sight of God. Man is completely depraved. However, after an encounter with the cross, we are given the right to operate out of a different nature. John 1:12 says, "As many as received [Jesus], to them He gave the right to become the children of God . . . ." Therefore, receiving Jesus does not just change my eternal position, but it changes the very attributes I possess today.

The apostle Paul would go on to write in Romans 8:9b, "Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His." What a redefinition of Christianity! The test of whether or not we belong to Christ is not what we profess we believe, but what spirit we possess. If we aren't in possession of Christ's Spirit, than how much of our lives we've handed over to Christ's Lordship needs to be questioned.

Today, I find myself challenged. Whenever I feel myself growing comfortable, scripture breaks through and redefines for me what it is to walk with God. I hope today you have been challenged as well. Let's embrace this redefinition of Christianity and seek today that we might be possessors of the Spirit of Christ.

-Micah