3 Ways To Know If You’re A Super Christian

Bible Thumpers.

That’s what our neighbors had called us.

It was a joke.

My husband had been talking to them and mentioned something about me hosting Bible study or something along those lines. He told the wife she could come as she sipped on her glass of wine.

She declined and they called us Bible thumpers.

I honestly didn’t mind being called a Bible thumper and we were on great terms with our neighbors.

I thought it was great that they could know that Christians, I’m sorry, “Bible thumpers,” were just regular people who lived regular lives.

Our kids played together.

My husband shoveled their walk when it snowed.

A Small Town Outside The Big City

Life in our neighborhood was great. Which was surprising really. We lived in a small suburb outside of Denver, Colorado. Our previous neighborhoods had been protected with privacy fences. No matter how hard my extroverted, social husband tried, being neighborly just wasn’t done.

So, yes, we were Christians “Bible Thumpers,” but everyone was okay with that. That included the couple who drank on their front lawn while their kids played. The mom with the live-in boyfriend, and a gay couple who moved in when she left.

Their neighbors knew they loved Jesus, they called them "Bible Thumpers," but that didn't stop them from being friends. Click To Tweet

That mom, by-the-way, rescued me from a bird my cat brought into the house one day. I made the mistake of telling her to let it go. She did. It flew around my kitchen for almost an hour. I was so thankful my neighbor was home. But I digress.

Here’s the thing that neighborhood taught me: being a Christian isn’t bad. It doesn’t make you an outcast. The friends we made while in that community will probably stay in our hearts forever. They knew we loved Jesus, and they knew we loved them, too. We were real people living together in the real world.

Fast forward ten years…

Bible Thumper vs Super Christian

Super Christian.

The words hit me like cold water being thrown in my face.

It wasn’t that I’m more ashamed of my faith now than I was then, I’m not. But those words stung, nonetheless.

The thing is, they weren’t written in jest. She wasn’t poking fun at me for being a “Bible thumper.”

She had said the other ladies wouldn’t relate to me because they weren’t “super Christians.”

To put it plainly, I had been rejected by Christians, because I was “too Christian.”

The irony wasn’t lost on me.

I thought of my old neighborhood. My introverted self didn’t talk to my neighbors as much as my husband did. I mean, he’s still friends with many of them on Facebook. But I had to wonder what they would think of the situation (but I probably won’t ask him to check).

I wasn’t too Christian for them (the non-Christians), but I was too Christian for the Christians.

What Is A Super Christian?

So… I bet you are wondering just what is a “Super Christian?” At least, that’s what I’ve been wondering myself.

There isn’t a definition for “Super Christian” (I looked it up). However, after looking at the definitions of both “super” and “Christian,” I’m kind of thinking, “Super Christian” might be synonymous with “Bible Thumper.”

Isn’t that a hoot.

There are multiple definitions of “Bible Thumper,” but when I first looked it up ten years ago, it was “a zealous Christian.” The term was derived from when preachers would thump their hands or Bible down on the podium to make a point.

Another definition was someone who was so zealous for Christ that they hit people over the head with their Bibles (figuratively of course). I don’t think I’ve ever done that, but I do talk about Jesus. Because “out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks” (Lk 6:45).

3 Ways To Know If You Are A Super Christian

(AKA Bible Thumper)

Keeping those definitions in mind, I wanted to share a list of three ways you can know if you’re a “Super Christian.”

1.) If You Read Your Bible (even if you struggle with it) You Might Be A Super Christian

Everyone is at a different point in their walk with Christ. I know this. However, some times I forget that not everyone who professes to be a Christian reads the Bible.

I will be the first to admit that I don’t read my Bible every day. I’m doing a one-year chronological Bible reading plan with some other ladies this year. It’s fantastic.

The plan is set up to be a six-day reading plan and you can take the seventh day off, or read something else that day. I have it set so the seventh day is Sunday. It works out great.

However, even set up as a six-day plan, I have missed a few days. I had the flu, and… well, life just happened and I got behind.

I am not a perfect Christian.

However, I do enjoy reading my Bible, even if I don’t do it every day.

2.) You Might Be A Super Christian If You Talk To God

Prayer is one of the parts of being a Christian that I think I take for granted sometimes.

Being in a relationship with Jesus means that we can talk to God whenever and wherever we want. We don’t have to pencil Him into our schedule. Those days I fail to read my Bible? I can still talk to God as I go about my day.

I was reminded recently that not every Christian realizes that they can do that.

We don’t have to get on our knees and spend an hour in prayer every time we approach God. I’m not saying we should never do that, because sometimes humbling ourselves before God is the best thing we can do.

However, we can pray in the car, at our desk, on our lunch break. We can pray in the middle of a bad situation simply by thinking, “God, I need Your help here.”

Prayers don’t have to be complicated.

3.) You Might Be A Bible Thumper Super Christian If You Talk About God

In the book of Deuteronomy, the Israelites were told to store God’s Word in their hearts. To teach them to their children, talking about them at home and when they were away (Deut. 11:18-21).

When God becomes such a part of our lives that He invades our everyday conversation, that’s when we become Bible Thumpers “Super Christians.”

It’s when we don’t have to try to talk about God, but it just happens.

Like when my husband told our neighbors that I was hosting a Bible study. He wasn’t trying to force our beliefs on them, it just came out. It was normal for us. So normal that it didn’t make them uncomfortable in the least.

When I was “too Christian” for the Christians, I didn’t do anything different than I would any other day. I was just me.

The Bottom Line?

You Might Be A Super Christian If You Love Jesus

Can I be really honest here?

These things don’t make us super Christians.

Being a super Christian isn’t about what you do or don’t do. And being a Christian really isn’t about being super at all.

Being a Christian is about knowing we are sinners in need of a Savior and knowing that that Savior is Jesus.

Yes, I am trying to read through the Bible chronologically this year with some other ladies. But I’m not doing it to check it off a “Good Christian Checklist.” I’m doing it to spend more time with the One who created me. I’m doing it with other women so we can talk about the God we all love.

It’s not about being awesome, it’s about Jesus.

That’s how everything in the life of a Christian should be, whether they feel like they are crushing it or barely hanging on. Because we know that we can do all things with Christ (Phil. 4:13), and apart from Him we can do nothing (Jn 15:5).

The Truth Is…

Being rejected by other Christians hurt.

It reminded me of losing my friends when I first became a Christian.

If you can relate to that, I want you to know that you are not alone.

The truth is, there will always be people who push us away because of our walk with Christ (Jn 15:18). And sometimes, those people will be other Christians.

But God’s love for us will never change.

Romans 5:8 says, “God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”

Yes, other people will say things that hurt us. Sometimes those hurtful things will come from people close to us, other times they will come from strangers, but regardless of what anyone says or does, we can know that we are loved by Jesus. And that is something that will never change.

…So that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.

Ephesians 3:17-19

3 Questions for Bible Thumpers

I’d love to hear from you. Here are a few questions for you to consider. Feel free to respond to one or more of them in the comments below.

1. Have you ever been called a “Bible Thumper,” “Super Christian,” or another Christian slur? How did it feel?
2. Have you ever thought about how others see you from the outside looking in?
3. We are saved by grace alone by faith alone, in Christ alone, not a good Christian checklist of any kind (Eph 2:8). Do you need to give yourself grace today, or was there something else in this post that stood out to you?

Have you ever been called a "Bible Thumper," "Super Christian," or another Christian slur? Heather has… Click To Tweet