Philippians 1:21 For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain.
Is it possible that you have confused your best for God with being His best in you?
“I didn’t know that you were a Christian!”. This was a statement directed toward me by the bass player of a Christian band I was asked to join when I was a Junior in High School. To make things worse he was also someone I knew and spent time with at school. Why didn’t he know that I was a Christian? It had been my understanding that by being nice to people, not cussing, drinking or doing drugs, and being active in many other good activities was how I lived a “Christ-centered” life. Looking back at that time I now realize that I was depending on myself and what I could do to show that I was a Christian. Even though I was very good at accomplishing these endeavors, I found out that evening in an embarrassing way that I was actually nothing but a failure.
Believe me when I say that it was not from lack of effort. I was a regular church attendee, meaning that I was in church Sunday morning, Sunday night and Wednesday night. I was a constant at youth choir practice, youth Bible Study, summer camp, and mission trips. I also served as a summer camp counselor and I was a volunteer Vacation Bible School worker but none of this enabled me to live in such a way that caused my Christian friend to know that I too was a Christian! Since that day the Lord has been faithful to work in my heart and bring me to the realization that what I thought to be a “Christ-centered” life was actually a “Me-centered” life. I was living a very busy life for Jesus but as my friend made clear to me that night, I was accomplishing nothing! In practice I was no better than the men Jude in verse 12 of his epistle describes as “clouds without water, carried along by winds; autumn trees without fruit, doubly dead, uprooted”.
I often hear Christians as well as different ministries declare that they are “Christ-centered” but is this really the case? Is it possible that this phrase is nothing more than Christian-ese. Something we say because we’ve heard others say it and it sounds good but in reality we have no idea what it means. Maybe Christ-centered is what you consider to be true of you and I hope it is, but let me encourage you to examine yourself to make sure this is truly your reality. Is it possible that you have confused your best for God with being His best in you? A good question to ask yourself in discerning the answer to this question would be, “Am I at rest?”
“No soul can be really at rest until it has given up all dependence on everything else and has
been forced to depend on the Lord alone. As long as our expectation is from other things, nothing
but disappointment awaits us.” Hannah Whitaker Smith
So what’s the secret? How was it possible for Paul to say, “For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain.” What is a Christ-centered life and how is it possible to truly live a Christ-centered life?
I suggest that a good self-examination begins with being honest as to who or what you worship because that will reveal your true life (2 Corinthians 13:5).
“A Christ-centered (or Christocentric) life is one that is focused upon … Jesus Christ as Lord. At the core of every human decision is a motivation. Some people are motivated by the quest for pleasure or money. Some center their entire lives on a goal, a job, or even their families. These things are not wrong in themselves; however, that which we center our lives on can become our god.” gotquestions.org
Hebrews 12:1 Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us,
2 fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
The word “fixing” in verse 2 brings with it the idea of looking away from all else and exclusively to Christ.
You may be wondering why this would be necessary? The answer would simply be that this is how we were designed by God.
Mankind was created in such a way that the image of God would be seen in us (Gen. 1:26-27). According to God’s design, this was always meant to be accomplished by God literally showing Himself or living His life in and through us (Gen. 2:7).
We were intended to flesh this out as we live God conscious (Gen. 2:25) and not self-conscious (Gen. 3:7). In other words we live out the image of God by faith in the Lord to live His life out of us and not by faith in ourselves to imitate Him in our own strength (Heb. 11:6; Rom. 7:18, 24-25).
God’s life in and through mankind is what Adam and Eve fell from and therefore it is this fallen state that we have been born into but the good news is that God has made it possible for us to once again know the reality of His life in us through Jesus Christ, (Acts 2:4, Galatians 2:20, Colossians 1:28, 29)
The Church losing her fixation on Jesus is the very thing that greatly concerned Paul.
2 Corinthians 11:3 But I am afraid that, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, your minds will be led astray from the simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ.
Paul was not concerned that we would stop going to church or reading our Bible. He feared that in our busyness for God we would lose sight of Jesus. (Jn. 14:9).
John 14:9 Jesus *said to him, “Have I been so long with you, and yet you have not come to know
Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father; how can you say, ‘Show us the Father’?
On whom are you fixed? You or Jesus? Are you truly living Christ-centered?
All scripture from NASB 95
