There are so very many ways of expressing the concept of what it takes to become a christian. The label is, of course, inadequate representation of what exits inside of a person(and is used as a default label). There is a line that must be crossed, a change that is made, an acceptance (and action) upon certain truths. Jesus called the change being "born again", when His richness has reached all the way down to our foundation to conceive that new life in us which is our down payment on eternal life.It is called "believing in Him" that dawning realization of the absolute veracity of who He is and what He has said. The change is being saved from the destruction of our prior path, saved from being condemned to the second death, called hell. Jesus also called it "entering by the gate", such gate which is Christ Jesus. He said there is no other entrance for He is the Truth, the Way, and the Life.
How can you tell when you have crossed over the line, the demarcation that makes the difference, between life and death? Regrets and remorse are not the magic ticket to the movie called heaven. The next progression, the desire to change, to do better, is still not sufficient to push us over the edge into freedom. Everyone goes through these sorts of things. The effort to improve ourselves is (literally) a dead end road. That point where we see our overwhelming need and also our helplessness to effect a change is where our spiritual transformation begins.
"In that day, whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved." It is when we are so far down into the hole that we throw up our hands in surrender, and plead with Jesus to fix it, that the salvation of our God seizes hold of us and generates the seed of the image of Him within us. His likeness grows and flowers within us through His guidance.
Symptoms manifest themselves of this permanent and incurable condition (of new life in Christ). The first sign of it is that we call Him our Lord to His face and in the presence of others. We feel a compelling love of Him that places His will and desire above our own. His gentle benevolence is revealed in our character so that we, amazingly, love our brother, enough so that we want good for him, even in the face of his abuse. We are willingly and eagerly obedient to His commands out of gratitude for His goodness. He has become, for us, the God of the gap, overcoming and conquering even the gulf which separates us from Him, and making our sin of no effect. He is not beyond our reach anymore. He is just a prayer away.
There are many in this day and age who call themselves Christians. Our Lord said many would use His name who do not know Him. The greatest tragedy in this world is those who do not make the transition from knowing about Him to knowing Him personally.
