Lord, I Want To Be A Christian

Would you agree with me that in today's society the word "Christian" carries some negative connotations?  I generally shy away from the word and prefer instead to use "believer" or "follower of Jesus".  But the Early Church were called Christians and I sure don't want to put that important and vital part of Church history on the backburner.  So I have found myself trying to reconcile to the term in light of today's culture.  Today's culture sure makes it hard for a lover of God to follow him as he has laid out in the Bible.  This hymn kind of addresses that, or at least in my perspective it does. 
Before we can be the things we want to be - the hands and feet of Jesus, loving, Holy, etc - we have to first allow them to be a true part of us in our hearts.  What is in our hearts comes out - no matter if it is "good" or "bad".  Or to state that more biblically, "A good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and an evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of."  (Luke 6:45)  So if I want to be a Christian then I first must reconcile all that it entails to be one in my heart so then my external life - and mouth - can communicate that. 
Lord, I want to be a Christian - in all the ways YOU laid out.  Forget culture and society and their definitions, I only want to be one according to YOUR definition! 

Lord, I Want To Be A Christian (Yolanda Adams)
Lord, I Want To Be A Christian (Leeland)