To be a Christian is not to have arrived at some state or condition of Christian existence. It is to be constantly having growing pains. It is not to be something but to be becoming something. It is never to think that we have arrived, but to be constantly on the way.

Shirley Guthrie, Christian Doctrine

Have you arrived as a Christian? Have you learned it all? Do you know the difference between right and wrong, good and evil, moral and immoral? If you do, you've ceased being a Christian.

This is the paradox of Christianity that Guthrie points out. Once we think we have arrived as a Christian, that we've mastered what it means to be a Christian, is exactly the point that we've lost the entire meaning of Christianity. Christianity is not about "arriving" it's about "journeying" with God. The point of Christianity is not the final goal, but lessons we learn along the way. As Christians we should always be growing, evolving, moving forward.

That necessarily involves pain. Often we reach points in the journey where we think we can't go on. Our beliefs, our hopes, our dreams of what it means to Christian have been shattered. We're left with pieces of our lives and little direction in how to pick them up and go on. This is where our faith comes in. To go on, to constantly be "on the way" requires faith that the journey will ultimately be worthwhile.

I've been asked at times what it's like to be a Christian. I always tell people that I have no idea what it's like to be a Christian. I know a lot about what it's like to become a Christian. It takes a lot of work, a lot of sweat, a lot of tears, and truckload after truckload of faith and hope. In the end, I doubt I'll ever be a Christian. The best I can hope for is a fruitful journey that ends with the words "Well done, good and faithful servant."

Blessings,
Candace