JESUS AT THE CENTER

I grew up in church most of my life and by the grace of God, I'm still there. But over the years I've watched the lives of friends and family who attended with me, contribute passionately to a congregation while holding on for dear life to their commitment to Christ.  Somewhere along their path, life happened and interrupted their journey.  Most often I have found it to be disappointment. Maybe even profound disappointment. A desire that never came to fruition, a dream “deferred” or a loss so great they couldn't regain their footing.

Resentment and disillusionment followed and then an eventual turning away from their faith. 

Others experienced no disappointment at all, just a gradual cooling of their fire for Christ replaced by a slow burn filled with criticisms of the church, necessary to justify their own life choices.  I have also observed others who have tried to fill the deepest aches of their souls with a “spiritual construct” of their own making.  This usually ends up being a recipe of a little reverence for Jesus, a handful of new age beliefs, some prayers at a man-made altar with a sprinkle of sage all over it. This is not judgement and I, in no way, believe that my relationship with Christ has anything to do with my own spiritual fortitude. 

Isaiah 53: 6 reminds us that “All of us, like sheep, have strayed away. We have left God’s paths to follow our own. Yet the Lord laid on him the sins of us all.”  What I have come to realize over the many years of being a Christian is that Christ has to be my center, the very core of my being and identity.  If that is not true, I easily lose focus and start to question His truths for my life.  Every morning, I am cognizant that I cannot control any of the events promised and at the end of the day there is always at least one reminder of life's frailty. 

So how do we keep Jesus, as the center of our lives? Richard Smallwood shared with us the secret to this mystery in one of the greatest songs ever written. Jesus stays at the center of your life when he's your direction, your compass, your fire and light in darkness. He has to be your laughter, your pleasure, your song and the fulfillment of your dreams. 

There can never be a moment when you attempt to find a replacement for what you need in the deepest recesses of your soul. Jesus wants to be your everything! For those of us dealing with disappointment, despair, despondency or simply just distracted, the answer is and will always be Jesus being the center of our lives and of our joy.  “I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete.” John 15:11 “ 

~Nicholine Charles