To Be A Christian - Part 2

 Being a Christian has very little to do with what happens in the afterlife, and everything to do with what happens in the here and now. Being a Christian has nothing to do with going to heaven when you die, but everything to do with experiencing heaven and bringing heaven down for others to experience in this life. The goal of being a Christian is not passing through the pearly gates after death, but full submission to the Spirit of Christ so that when others see and hear you, they see and hear Christ. The deliverance, the salvation brought about by being a Christian is about deliverance from one's own malfunctioning flesh and its behaviors, not deliverance from judgment in the afterlife. Being a Christian has little if anything to do with what you profess to believe, and everything to do with how you live in the world, and from what source of behavior you operate.
     If we take Jesus at His word, no one will be tested on their theology, but everyone will be judged on whether or not they treated others with loving kindness and compassion. The only rule which God cares about us following is the rule of love for one another and for Him. Literally nothing else matters, and when we love we experience God and others experience God through us. It literally makes no difference how correct or how orthodox or heterodox your theology is. But it makes every difference whether or not you are compassionate and care about the person next to you as yourself. Remember, what you dish out will be dished back to you, and with what standard you use to judge, you yourself will be judged using the same standard. Whatever a person plants he or she will also harvest.
     As Paul also wrote, without love, I am nothing, I gain nothing. Why? Because God is love, as John wrote, and God is the goal. The person who claims to be a Christian, a disciple of Jesus Christ, and does not love, does not care about the person next to them, or has no compassion or empathy for their neighbors is a liar. They are lying to themselves, to others, and to God. They may have the facade of a religious person, but they are, as Jesus expressed, "whitewashed tombs." Pretty on the outside, but inside full of death and decay.
     Professed belief is worthless without the behaviors which go along with that professed belief. Your actions and how you live your life will always betray what you actually believe, no matter what you profess. Love for one another, for the person next to you, and the love of God within and through you is the evidence of one's actual discipleship and belief. Without love, what you say or profess is worth nothing, and you cannot hide this from the God who sees everything you see, feels everything you feel, and knows your mind better than you do.