To be a Christian is a standing, a legal position. It means to be a child of God. You are or you are not, there is no try.
Interpretation
This quote emphasizes the definitive nature of one's identity in faith as unequivocal and absolute.
Timothy Keller's quote articulates that being a Christian is not a half-hearted attempt or experimental phase; it is a firm, established identity as a child of God. This notion underscores the importance of commitment in one's faith journey, highlighting that there is no middle ground in such a profound relationship.
In practice
This quote can be used in a sermon to discuss the commitment involved in faith.
Falling in love in a Christian way is to say,'I am excited about your future and I want to be part of getting you there. I'm signing up for the journey with you. Would you sign up for the journey to my true self with me? It's going to be hard but I want to get there.
Only in Jesus Christ do we see how the untamable, infinite God can become a baby and a loving Savior. On the cross we see how both the love and the holiness of God can be fulfilled at once.
All human problems are ultimately symptoms, and our separation from God is the cause.
While your character flaws may have created mild problems for other people, they will create major problems for your spouse and your marriage.
To be loved but not known is comforting but superficial. To be known and not loved is our greatest fear. But to be fully known and truly loved is, well, a lot like being loved by God. It is what we need more than anything. It liberates us from pretense, humbles us out of our self-righteousness, and fortifies us for any difficulty life can throw at us.
God's Kingdom is "present in its beginnings, but still future in its fullness. This guards us from an under-realized eschatology (expecting no change now) and an over-realized eschatology (expecting all change now). In this stage, we embrace the reality that while we're not yet what we will be, we're also no longer what we used to be.
Isn't it strange that I who have written only unpopular books should be such a popular fellow?
Cheats, liars and criminals may resist every blandishment while respectable gentlemen have been moved to appalling treasons by watery cabbage in a departmental canteen.
I have always eaten animal flesh with a somewhat guilty conscience.
For this world that men have made, none of us is bad enough. For the world that made us, none is good enough.
Each of us has a natural right, from God, to defend his person, his liberty, and his property.
I cannot then believe in this concept of an anthropomorphic God who has the powers of interfering with these natural laws. As I said before, the most beautiful and most profound religious emotion that we can experience is the sensation of the mystical. And this mysticality is the power of all true science.
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