Christ at the Center

This morning I was struck by a passage of Scripture in The Message translation where the apostle Paul writes, "Isn't everything you have and everything you are sheer gifts from God? (1 Cor. 4:7). Clearly, Paul's point is that we owe everything to the Lord. As I think about the home God has given me - my family and friends, and the church family I'm a part of, along with so much more, I find myself overwhelmed with gratitude. Even the trials I face are all a part of this, for I know that they serve the purpose of helping me become more like Jesus. So, clearly, it's all about Him! It's all about His plan and purpose for all our lives!

It was the late German theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer who, when faced with execution by the Nazis during World War II, did not shrink back from his conviction that Christ is to be the absolute center of all things. Christ must always be our starting point, he argued. It was from this perspective that he worked for what he called a "religionless Christianity." Instead of being concerned with our own needs, problems, sins and fears and all the religious obligations and inhibitions of what is called faith today, Bonhoeffer sought to be "caught up into the way of Jesus Christ." It is this Way that must be our focus, with Jesus leading us into all that God has planned.

What a challenge for this New Year! To let Christ be the Center of our lives, and from that Center, to be the focus of all that we say and do.