Living My Religion, Am I Christian?

I have this teacher.

His name is Brent Slife, and he's one of the few teachers that I have that is not LDS here at BYU.

He's a really fabulous example of living his religion, he's Christian, and he knows it.

But even better, I can tell that he believes is Jesus Christ as his Savior because of the way that he lives his life and teaches my class.

On our first day of class I wrote this down, "How do I make my life more Christian? (Daily?)"

I feel like a lot of the time I think that I'm Christian, but I neglect to thank and acknowledge my Heavenly Father in all that I do.

I went on to write in my notes, "Professor Slife mentioned a man today that goes to church  primarily to receive more business. Everyone in the class chuckled. And I did too, but then I thought of all the reasons I go to church that aren't solely based on worshiping Christ."

I go to church to see the guy I like, to talk with my friends, to hear great stories and to be uplifted. I go to church to show off a new outfit, or how I did my hair. I go to church so others will think that I am spiritual.

But are any of those reasons the right reasons?

I believe that worshiping on Sunday is very important, but I wonder what Heavenly Father would have me do? Live my religion daily? Through my thoughts, words, and actions? 

Or to merely go to church?

I guess what I'm getting at is this.

I think it's important to do the right things, but more important to do the right things for the right reasons. It's good to call myself a Christian, but it's better to live a Christ-Centered life. It's important to keep the commandments, but it's the best to follow the guidance of the Spirit. 

It's about living the religion that I believe, not just calling myself a Latter Day Saint.
I'm trying to change the way I think about being Christian so that I will be better able to use the atonement in my daily life.

A line of one of my favorite songs goes like this, "Because I am his daughter, I want my devotion to him to be what they see."

I want the way that I act to help others come to know Christ, and hopefully by continually working on characteristics that will happen.