If the 2 billion plus people who are classified as jesus a gospel of love were true Christians we would have a totally different world. We would have lesser number of very poor people, much lesser number of crimes, and an increasing number of people who make other people happy.
Unfortunately and very sadly too, most of the 2 billion or more who say they are Christians are false Christians. They are not true as they do not show the signs of a real Christian.
We have fake money bills, fake documents, fake transcripts of records, fake certificates, fake signatures. But the worst and most dangerous counterfeit is not money or document but a fake Christian. The reason is because a fake Christian can create havoc not just in the banks or in employment but in all the sectors of society.
It was fake Christians who have been waging wars all through these centuries, including the two world wars, putting to death millions of human beings.
To recognize who these fake Christians are we need to know the signs of a true Christian. There are three main signs.
First, the true Christian is one who is no longer seeking for something in this world to save himself or make himself happy. If you have been to an Easter Party with an Easter egg, you would know what I mean.
In an Easter Party where the people search for the Easter egg you see children and adults walking around, searching for the coveted Easter egg, a colored egg hidden in furniture, in grass, in other places around the venue of the party. They keep on looking for this Easter egg until it is found. Most of the time there are many of such egg and people look for more and more of them, until the moderator of the game tells the partying people that the total number of Easter eggs have been found.
That is what most people do. They are looking for something that can make them happy. Some people think that this is found in money and more money, and so they acquire more of this. Others think that this is found in having three good meals a day, a sturdy roof over their head, and a set of comfortable clothes. So they work for these from day to day. Still others think that they can find happiness in honor. So they search for ways and means to become celebrities, whether at school, in the movie industry or in politics or in other areas.
The true Christian has found genuine happiness and knows where she has found this, in an encounter with God in Christ. This encounter happens when she has heard personally the word of God spoken to her and she has responded accordingly. Without this personal experience of God addressing oneself there is no real Christian.
In the case of Charles Haddon Spurgeon, he had this personal encounter when he heard God personally speaking to him through a preacher, “Look unto me…” from Isaiah 45:22.
In the case of Therese Martin, she heard the personal word of God when she read Proverbs 9:4, “Whoever is a little one, let him come to me.”
This personal experience with the word of God is not something reserved to the saints or great Christians. This is the necessary experience of every true Christian. This makes the person discover where true happiness lies, in Christ and in him alone.
Because of this experience, the true Christian stops looking for something to truly satisfy her thirst for happiness. She has found it and it shows in her life. She does not come and go here and there searching for something to make her happy. She has found happiness and it shows in her demeanor.
