If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God (Colossians 3:1-3, ESV).
For those of us who are in Christ Jesus, it is a daily reminder we all need. Life gets hectic, and distractions abound. Life gets mundane, and something greater is sometimes desired in those moments.
Life gets challenging and even unbearable for some, but at the center of the busyness, the normalcy, and the difficulty is the One who is to be the center of our existence, Jesus Christ.
As believers, we are to live and conduct our lives with Him at the center of it all because we were made to glorify Him and worship Him.
I found myself thinking about this very thing in my own life while listening to a Bible teacher talk about the daily reminder of living in Christ. Our identity is in Christ Jesus. Our conduct is to be different than the world. We are not our own.
We are not to be united to the world but to Him who ransomed us and washed us clean. It may sound unnecessary to even make such statements. Of course, we are to live a Christ-centered life, but I forget all too often.
All those areas of life I mentioned distract me at times from what matters most. What does the Christ-centered life look like in the day-to-day occurrences of life?
Do you struggle to understand this in light of Scripture? Here are some areas to help us in our walk with the Lord and to place our focus back on Him rather than finding meaning within ourselves.
The Gospel-Centered Life
The Christ-centered life is a gospel-centered life, meaning that we are continuously reminded of our utter need and dependency upon Jesus Christ. In his book, Respectable Sins, Jeff Bridges reminds the reader,
“The gospel, though, is only for sinners, for those who recognize their need of it. Many Christians think of the gospel as only for unbelievers. Once we trust in Christ, so the thinking goes, we no longer need the gospel. But, as I seek to bring out in this book, the gospel is a vital gift from God not only for our salvation but also to enable us to deal with the ongoing activity of sin in our lives. So, we still need the gospel every day.”
We all deal with sin in this world at times, including the ones we consider respectable, such as worry, anger, fear, and doubt.
But we need to remember who has saved us and who now abides in us to help us and to lead us into all truth as we journey with God through sanctification after justification.
We need to hear the gospel every day because our hope is in this good news. Without Christ, we perish. Without the power of the Holy Spirit to help conform us into the image of Christ and to kill sin daily, including those respectable sins, we forget where our hope is found.
We need that reminder that we are a new creation in Christ and that the old has passed away (2 Corinthians 5:17). Our strength is found in Him.
The life we live for Christ is to be gospel-centered, the Gospel of Jesus Christ in accordance with Scripture (1 Corinthians 15:1-4), and we are comforted to know we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous (1 John 2:1).
The Crucified and Selfless Life
Jesus told His disciples in Matthew 16:24-25, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it.”
As believers, the Christ-centered life is a life that is crucified and selfless. The life we live is to be lived for the glory of God.
In a commentary regarding Matthew 16:24, this author states, “Nobody who follows Jesus can hold on to even the smallest bit of their agenda, their own dreams, their own way of living in the world. They must sacrifice every ounce of self if they would choose to walk after Him.”
When asked what the greatest commandment in the Law is, Jesus declared, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments” (Matthew 22:36-40).
The crucified life demonstrates to whom we belong. We love God more than anything, and we live for Him. The second commandment helps us to remember that we are to think more highly of others than we do ourselves.
After loving the Lord our God with all my heart, soul, mind, and strength, I am to love my neighbor as myself.
When being honest about this, I realize my need for the Lord and for His guidance in His Word and by His Spirit because my tendency is to put myself first. Part of being a new creation is putting away selfish desires. Colossians 3 is a beautiful reminder for us to recall daily.
The temptation is great in us all to think of our own needs before we think of others, but Jesus Christ reminds His disciples then and His disciples now that God is not only the focus of our faith, love, and devotion, but He is the focus of our obedience.
He has shown us through His Son what it means to sacrifice for the sake of others and to love others.
The Multifaceted Christ-Centered Life
There are many facets to the Christ-centered life. These are but a few. We are to be people of the Word of God, knowing what the scriptures have to say and being a student of His Word. We are to meditate on His Word and His ways (Psalm 119).
The Christ-centered life is a life rich in worship and praise unto the Lord. This is not only in song or in melody, but it is in all that we do in word and deed.
Colossians 3:17 reminds us that whatever we do in word and deed to do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him.
The Christ-centered life is a Spirit-filled life. From the moment of salvation, the Holy Spirit comes to indwell the regenerated man or woman, and in sanctification, we are to continuously be filled with the Spirit in the sense of growing in spiritual maturity.
We are to be led by the Spirit and to cultivate the fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23). Ephesians 5:18 encourages believers to walk in spiritual maturity, being filled in a continual process to where we are growing and exalting God in our walk with the Lord.
What other ways can you think of where God shows us in the Word what it means to live a Christ-centered life? Think on this today and be encouraged in your faith in Him to bring Him glory in all you do.
For further reading:
What Is Our Association with Christ?
How to Live a God-Centered Life
What Are the Marks of a True Believer?
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