Becoming a Christian

At a meeting, Kathleen Norris says she was humbled by hearing so esteemed a theologian as Karl Rahner cry out, "I have still to become a Christian."

Our bi-monthly denominational news journal always includes a simple outline of “How to Become a Christian.” At the denominational university where I teach, regularly we hear chapel speakers tell us how to become a Christian. We have many students who are committed to asking people whether they are a Christian; if they answer in the negative, they tell them how to become a Christian. After reflecting on this particular evangelistic use of language that I’ve heard all my life, I ‘ve come to believe they are really concerned to tell, not, how to become a Christian, but, how to come to be a Christian. Once the appropriate steps are taken one is a Christian. It is a done deal. Eternally irreversible.

I’ve been around Christians ever since my father left the farm and began preaching when I was less than two years old. I spent ten yeas in theological seminaries, and have been teaching Christian Studies in a denominational university for the past thirty years. Christians come in all shapes, sizes, attitudes, political and economic leanings. But they all come in shadings; they are all Christian “to a degree.” “If any man be in Christ,” the New Testament says, “he is a new creature. Old things are passed away, behold, all things are become new.” Among the thousands of Christians I have known and observed, I have never seen one for whom all old things have passed away, and it takes little exposure to reveal that not all aspects of their thought, mood, attitude and action have become new.

They may be in the process of becoming a Christian. Old things may be in the process of being shed or tossed aside. Their life increasingly take on new and more Christlike dimensions, but they still have a ways to go before they are truly Christ-ian. The apostle Paul write that he continued to “press on,” toward the goal; he realized he had “not yet attained it.” Repeatedly he wrote to those he called “brothers in Christ,” commending them for their Christian character and deeds, but urging them to become yet more Christian, to mature in Christ, to more completely become what they already are.

So, like Rahner, we would do well to realize that, although we may come to accept the salvation offered by the gracious God who accepts us just as we are, we are disciples–followers, learners, apprentices–of Jesus. Christianity is a process. We all must “press on” toward that higher ground beyond, a place more enjoyable than we’ve yet known, with a deeper, richer peace than we can now imagine.