lives which add to the dictionary
"For a whole year they met with the church and taught a large number of people, and it was in Antioch that the disciples were first called Christians." —Acts 11:26
After hearing the good news of Jesus, a great number of people from Antioch "who believed turned to the Lord" (Acts 11:21). For a whole year, these people met with Barnabas and Saul, who instructed them (Acts 11:26). As these people continued steadfastly in these instructions (see Acts 2:42) and abided in God's word (Jn 8:31), they began to change. They started to think, speak, act, work, decide, love, and be like Christ. Those who knew something of Christ recognized the increasingly more obvious resemblance of these Antiochans to Christ. This perception inspired them to make up the word "Christian" and apply it to the Antiochan believers.
If there weren't such a word as "Christian," would your life in imitation of Christ inspire someone to coin the word? Have you opened yourself to enough instruction to be transformed into an "alter Christus," another Christ? Are you "beginning to look a lot like" Christ? Abide in God's word. Be and look like Christ.
Prayer: Father, beginning this Easter season, may I imitate Christ so radically as to deserve the name "Christian."
Promise: "My sheep hear My voice; I know them, and they follow Me. I give them eternal life." —Jn 10:27-28
Praise: Bonnie sometimes spends hours in the middle of the night praying for seminarians.
Reference: (For a complete list of all our available audio and video tapes, order our Audio/Video Tape Catalog.)
Nihil Obstat: Reverend Giles H. Pater, October 17, 2002
Imprimatur: †Most Reverend Carl K. Moeddel, Vicar General and Auxiliary Bishop of the Archdiocese of Cincinnati, October 21, 2002