The Special of the Day… From the Orange Moon Cafe…
"The Centrality of Christ"
"Christ only. Christ always. Christ forever. This is God's fixed and forever devotion to the centrality of His Son. This is God's fixed and forever devotion to the centrality of His Son. May we more and more join Him in our devotion to the Savior."
We necessarily compartmentalize our lives in order to plan, organize, and perform the things we seek to do in life. We cannot function otherwise because of our limited knowledge and understanding. "Prepare thy work without, and make it fit for thyself in the field, and afterwards build thine house" (Proverbs 24:27).
God, conversely, centralizes His purposes in accordance with "the eternal purpose which He purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord" (Ephesians 3:11). His infinite understanding allows Him to perfectly coordinate literally trillions of events in the context of Christ, that is, to glorify and reveal His Son as the reason for His determinations and allowances of all things. The Christ who made, sustains, redeems, and will ultimately perfect a fallen creation provides the primary answer to every "Why?" we can ask of our Heavenly Father's doings.
"In all things, He (Christ) might have the preeminence" (Colossians 1:18).
We cannot presently think as God thinks (and in the ultimate sense, we never will). We can, however, know and believe that His purpose ever flows with the current of the the Lord Jesus. We can also set our hearts to flow in same direction by seeking to view each aspect of our lives as opportunity to honor our Savior. "Whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God" (I Corinthians 10:31). Each compartment must be seen in the context of Christ. Be if family, friendship, fellowship with believers, relationships with neighbors and colleagues, career, possessions, and pastimes, all exist to provide ways to know the Lord Jesus as the Life of our lives, and to communicate Him to others by how we live and what we say. "Whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as unto the Lord" (Colossians 3:23).
If we could see more clearly, we would view no compartments. We would rather behold a beautiful unity of all things being of Christ, through Christ, and for Christ. Our Father sees things - all things - accordingly. As we look to Him, therefore, He will more and more illuminate our hearts and minds to enable our capacity to realize His "eternal purpose," which in turn will increasingly become our purpose. Christ only. Christ always. Christ forever. This is God's fixed and forever devotion to the centrality of His Son. May we more and more join Him in our devotion to the Savior.
"For of Him, and through Him, and to Him, are all things. To whom be glory forever. Amen."
(Romans 11:36)
"God also hath rightly exalted Him, and given Him a name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in Heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father."
(Philippians 2:9-11)
Weekly Memory Verse
Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth He any man. (James 1:13).
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