by Wayne Leon Learmond

Created on: January 06, 2011

Christians are not perfect, but what a true Christian tries to do is be as 'Christ-like' as possible, in thoughts and deeds. One has to ask the question, what does true Christianity mean? As Christ teaches, 'If you wish to follow me, then take up thy cross.' What does that mean? 'Take up thy cross' means exactly how Christ meant it to mean.

It means that the road we, as Christians follow will be narrow, will be hard, and the tears and hardships will be many. Christ never promised that anyone who followed Him would have an easy ride, for the road will be paved with sorrow. To take up one's own cross is to follow the path that Jesus walked all those years ago.

It means that even if we fall - and we will - as Jesus did on His stations of the Cross - we must pick ourselves up, brush ourselves down, and try all over again. God knows that we are not perfect, we cannot be perfect as human beings, but in our own humanity does Christ accept us, as we must accept Him in his perfect mind and body.

In order to experience all that we, as humans experience here on earth, God lowered Himself to suffer as we suffer. As Christ said, ’If you hate because people hate you, spit on you, curse you and call you all manner of names, remember that all these things were done to me, before they were done to you.'

And it is so true. We, as human beings crucified a God. So, if we can do that to a God, in our imperfection, how much more do we do it to each other? There are many Christians who, although they believe wholeheartedly in God, are far from being the perfect Christians that many of us wish to be. We cheat, we lie, we accuse falsely, we hurt and we murder. Yet we still call ourselves 'Christians'.

To be a Christian, in the true sense of the word, means that many of us will fail. To be a Christian means following the true path of Christ and carrying His cross upon our backs. To forgive those who do us or our families harm is the greatest thing - other than love - that we can do. To turn the other cheek when all around there are people only too willing to react to violence is the hardest thing we can do - but a true follower of Christ would do it.

There have been many examples of true faith in Christ being played out in the world. People like Martin Luther King, whose non-violent walks and confrontations with the racist State, eventually became so powerful a force that love eventually overcame evil, and the laws were repealed.

Gandhi, was not a Christian, yet his example of non-violent

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