I Am A Bowler... or am I?

Suppose I told you, "I am a bowler" but you didn't believe me. In my defense I might tell you...

When I was young I went to the bowling alley with my family and just like them I wanted to be a bowler. So I joined a league and did my best to be a good bowler. I won awards and went week after week. I knew that bowling was for me, it really made me feel great.

Of course, just like most people I went to bowling alleys less and less as I grew older. After all, they could be smoky, and the food wasn't that good. Sure, some of the people were nice, but I just didn't seem to fit in anymore. In fact, I almost never go to the bowling alley these days. Well, maybe once or twice each year. Still, if someone asks me if I am a bowler I tell them "yes." Once a bowler always a bowler, right?

What do you think? Am I right to call myself a bowler?

Of course not.

What's the point?

The point is that going to a bowling alley when you were young, practicing for a time, and loving to bowl for a while, does not mean that you are a bowler any more than going to church when you were young, learning Bible stories, loving church, or saying prayers makes you a Christian.

Some of you are probably saying "Amen" while others are insulted or aghast that I would suggest there are people who claim to be Christian but are not.

In my defense, I am not saying this at all. I am simply passing along a message from the Bible.

2 Corinthians 13:5 says, "Test yourselves to see if you are in the faith; examine yourselves! Or do you not recognize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you—unless indeed you fail the test?"

Failing to be a true Christian (failing the test, as this verse says) has real consequences. Matthew 7:21-23 specifically warns that some who consider themselves Christians will be rejected by Christ. How can this be? It is because the true test of salvation is not whether you believe you are saved, it is whether you really are.

Thankfully, you can tell. Here are a few indicators of true Christian faith from a collection pulled together by John MacArthur and documented in his Study Bible:

• A love for God that causes you to seek after Him, to obey Him, to desire Him above all else. (Luke 10:27)
• You have repented for sin, and continue to repent of sin and strive to live a righteous life. (Psalms 32:5)
• You recognize the need to minimize your own desires (humility) and your desire is to glorify God. (James 4:6; 1 Corinthians 10:21)
• You pray regularly, even continuously. (Luke 18:1)
• You have a sacrificial love for others. (1 John 4:7-end of chapter)
• You are not concerned about "keeping up with the Jones" and given the choice of standing out like a sore thumb versus shying away from your faith so that others will like you, you choose to stand out like a sore thumb. (James 4:4 and following)
• As time goes by (month to month, year to year) you grow in knowledge of God's Word, and live obediently to what the Bible says. (John 15:1-6, 1 John 2:3-5)

Only you can know if you pass the test. Only you know if you are truly a Christian who has been born again.

If you are not, today is the day of salvation. Repent of your sin, call out to God for forgiveness, and put your faith and trust in the savior, Jesus Christ, who lived a perfect life, died on the cross taking your sin upon Himself, and was resurrected three days later as a demonstration that He is God.