It's a bit of a tautology: Do you live your values? Of course you do. Everybody does. The more interesting question is: Do you live your stated values? On this one, the vast majority of believers fail the test.

[What follows is not about salvation or damnation. It's about holiness. It's about obedience to the One Whom you claim is your Master when you say you're a Christian.]

You claim to be Christian, but do you live the values the Good Book lays out as the definition of Christian? Do you pray ceaselessly? Do you read the Word when you rise in the morning, before you go to sleep at night, and dwell on it throughout the day? Do you live as if God owns all of your possessions and that you're merely His short-term steward of His stuff? Do you invest His money, time, and abilities as He calls you to, or do you waste them on your own worldly desires? When He places your "neighbor" before you with a need, do you meet that need as you're able? Or do you pass by on the other side of the road, intent on your own goals? Do you share your testimony and spread the Good News of a free salvation? Are you discipled and do you disciple others? Is your free time spent on yourself or in service to the Lord and others? Are you holy, set apart from the fallen world, wholly dedicated to the Lord and His ways?

These questions, ever present in my conscious, keep me sober day and night. When I meet the Judge, I ask myself, and when I give account for every thought and deed, will my Father be proud of me? Will I hear, "Well done, good and faithful servant." or will I garner disappointment, sliding into heaven only by the skin of my teeth, my faith more sham than real? I shudder to think of the possibility my faith was not at all genuine, for my fate would be far worse than "heaven by the skin of my teeth".

Remember God's standard. It's not how we measure up relative to a fallen society. It doesn't matter how our friends, family, or neighbors do. The standard isn't relative but absolute. The standard is the toughest. Regardless of our assured failure to meet it perfectly, we have no excuse for not doing our best. By "doing our best" I don't mean excusing even a single failure. Sin is sin, and sin is unjustifiable. Period.

Think of it this way: You're hanging off a cliff, just barely hanging on by a root, let's say. You can't pull yourself up to safety by yourself. A man reaches over and offers to help you to safety, though. However, he can't quite reach you, so he can't rescue you by himself. You must each make the best effort and only together will you be pulled up and away from the cliff. Unless you make the effort commensurate with the value of your life, you'll fall. This is no time to give anything but your all. In this story, falling is akin to sinning. If you fall, it means you have committed the sin you said you wanted to avoid. (Note: By claiming the title "Christian", you're saying you desire to avoid all sins.) To avoid the sin, you must make the best possible effort, and then rely upon the Lord to make up the difference. Anything less than your best, and you're implicitly condoning--practicing, really--the sin. You'd be telling Him the sin is acceptable to you at some level if the effort required is "too much". Odds are, even your best effort won't be enough, but He'll make up the difference when you've shown your faithfulness to Him and His righteous ways by rejecting sin with all you've got.

You will be facing judgment for every thought and deed. If you claim to be Christian, you must hate sin as much as the Lord does. Anything short of hating all sin and making your best effort to avoid it, and you're implicitly rejecting the Lord in favor of your preferred sins. Make your best effort at all times to live the values He asks of you in His Word, and He will make up the difference, helping you avoid sin and making your eventual judgment one of Fatherly pride and affirmation. Live His values, and you can claim to be Christian legitimately--your stated values and your real values will be the same.