Notes

Good Christians are mostly optimistic and positive people. Good Christians are not afraid. Good Christians seek daily to live as Jesus taught and modeled during his time on earth. Good Christians, in sum, believe and love and hope rightly and truly. The problem is, by my own criteria, I am quite often a lousy Christian. Understand what it means to be a good Christian we have to first understand the word Christian and what it means. The word Christian is from the word Christ which in Hebrew means The Messiah.

Jesus whilst He was on earth had 12 disciples whom He taught the ways of God. He also encouraged them to teach others to follow His principles. These principles are referred to by some theologians as the Kingdom Principles. Because Jesus and His disciples taught extensively on the Kingdom principles, their way of life stood out. Soon after His death and resurrection, it was recorded in Acts 11:19-30 that in Antioch, the body of people who followed Christ's teachings and principles became categorized as Christians.

It was recorded in Matthew 7:22 that Jesus Himself taught that it would be easy to know those who are true Christians and those who are not. This means (as can be inferred from the topic) that there are good Christians and bad Christians). Jesus said in Matthew 7:15-20 that the way to distinguish between the good and bad Christians was to observe their fruits. Fruits here means attitudes, character, or habits. Not just the profession to belong to a particular class of people. He also taught that the only way to fully truly embody these fruits or attitudes of godliness is to receive a new Spirit. The bible teaches in Galatians 5:22-23 that the fruits of the Holy Spirit are Love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, and temperance.

Therefore, if anyone claims to be a good Christian, they must exhibit all the above qualities.

All the qualities listed above are fairly easy to understand. However, the one quality which the Holy Scripts defines clearly and separately is Love. According to I Corinthians 13 if anyone claims to have Love for their neighbor, they must:

Be Patient: to be patient means to be content knowing that what one desires will not come immediately and that there is no need to cut corners in order to get there fast. It also connotes bearing with other peoples failings until they are able to get past it;
Be Kind: To be kind means to go out of one's way to help others. And they don't have to deserve it for us to give it.
When this desire becomes laced with discontentment over one's present status and jealousy over another's achievements, it has become envy. There is no love in it.
Not be boastful: These days people want to project a certain kind of aura or perception about them. So they boast of their achievements and the things that they have.