You Say You Follow Christ. Where Is the Evidence?

Jesus never presented Christianity as a decision you make once and then carry on living as though nothing happened. In the Sermon on the Mount, He described what His followers would actually look like, and what He described has very little resemblance to the Christianity being marketed today. He spoke about humility, purity of heart, mercy, forgiveness, loving enemies, refusing hypocrisy, trusting God rather than money, laying down our own will, and actually doing what He says. Then, near the end of that sermon, Jesus says something that should make anyone who calls himself a Christian very uncomfortable: "Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven" (Matthew 7:21 NIV).

Jesus was not speaking to atheists. He was not speaking to people who had openly rejected Him. He was talking about people who would call Him Lord. They would use His name, claim a relationship with Him, and apparently believe they belonged to Him. Yet Jesus says that simply saying "Lord, Lord" is not evidence that someone belongs to Him. That should destroy the idea that Christianity is nothing more than making a profession of faith while the rest of your life remains untouched.

This is where we have to be honest. If Jesus' description of a Christian in the Sermon on the Mount bears no resemblance to the way someone actually lives, what exactly have we called Christianity? We say we follow Christ, but where is the evidence? If there is no growing hatred of sin, no desire for holiness, no concern for obedience, no willingness to forgive, no love for others, no hunger for God's Word, and no submission to the authority of Christ, what exactly did we accept? These are not comfortable questions, but they are biblical questions, and refusing to ask them does not make them disappear.

This does not mean a Christian becomes sinless. Anyone who has genuinely followed Christ knows there is still a battle with the flesh. Christians stumble. Christians fail. Christians repent. The difference is that sin is no longer something they can comfortably make peace with. Christ changes the direction of a person's life. He changes what they love, what they pursue, what they tolerate, what they desire, and eventually what they do. The transformation may not happen at the same speed in every person, but where Christ has truly taken possession of a life, there will be evidence that He is there.

We have become far too comfortable separating salvation from transformation. We tell people that they can accept Christ without surrendering their lives to Christ, receive forgiveness without repentance, claim grace without holiness, and call Jesus Savior without allowing Him to govern anything. That may be popular, but it is not the Christianity Jesus described. Jesus did not call people merely to believe facts about Him. He called them to follow Him. He said that those who love Him will obey His commands. He said that a tree is known by its fruit. He said that those who hear His words and do not put them into practice are like a foolish man who built his house on sand.

We cannot keep reducing Christianity to a profession while ignoring the person who was professed. You can know Christian language and never know Christ. You can attend Christian gatherings, listen to Christian music, quote Scripture, post Bible verses, and still resist the very Christ you claim to follow. Religious activity is not the evidence Jesus told us to look for. Obedience is.

That is why Matthew 7:21 is so disturbing. Jesus does not say everyone who says "Lord, Lord" is saved. He says only the one who does the will of His Father. The issue is not whether you once raised your hand, prayed a prayer, walked an aisle, signed a card, or called yourself a Christian. The issue is whether Christ is actually Lord.

We need to stop asking whether Christianity fits comfortably into the life we have already chosen and start asking whether our lives have been brought under the authority of Christ. Those are two very different things. One allows Jesus to become an addition to your life. The other requires your life to be surrendered to Him.

The question is not whether you have accepted Christ.

The question is whether Christ has actually changed you.