What does the word Yankee mean to you? Robert W. Mayer, in a Wall Street Journal article, writes, "To people in other parts of the world it simply means someone from the United States; to people in the United States it means someone from north of the Mason-Dixon Line; to us Northerners it means someone from New England; to New Englanders it means someone from Vermont; to Vermonters it means someone from the Green Mountains."

The term Christian has taken on a wide range of meaning too. Some have even equated being a Christian with being an American. That's far too wide! But we who believe in Jesus Christ often make the definition too narrow. We describe as "real Christians" only those men and women who believe and worship exactly as we do.

Certainly sound doctrine is vital! There is no room for disagreement over the fundamentals of the faith. But a "real Christian" is anyone who relies on God's grace and puts his trust in Christ alone as his only hope of salvation.

Believers share an enormous common ground with each other because they belong to an uncommon Christ. Don't reject real Christians--brothers and sisters who have accepted Jesus' once-for-all sacrifice for sin.  — RBC Ministries