A Christ Centered Life

4/23/20255 min read

Greetings Wakulla citizens! Thank you for your time today, we hope this column blesses you and yours! His focus today is I believe, Him being The focus. As we prepare for the festivities of celebrating His Resurrection, this time every year, He desires us to celebrate Him in our everyday lives! I have on my own heart, what is a true Christ centered life? Let’s dive in.

I first confess that Jesus was born through a virgin, Mary. Jesus is The Word made flesh because of Adam and Eve’s treasonous act in the Garden, that caused us and the earth to be cursed and is why when we are born we are born of a sinful nature, the Adamic nature. Jesus lived on earth to set the example for us on how we are to live, He has been here and done it all, gone through it all!! For us! He WILLINGLY went to the Cross to become our sin, conquer every sickness and disease and poverty for us all and paid our debt we can not pay! Separated Himself from His Father WILLINGLY for us! Father God CAN NOT be around sin, this is why Father God turned His back on Jesus when Jesus took every sin we had or would commit on Himself!! This IS HOW MUCH GOD LOVES YOU!! We are born sinners through birth THEN when we are called by God to seek Jesus out and invite Him in to be our LORD and Savior, we then are SIN FREE, washed by His BLOOD!! Redeemed out of satan's hands!! Revelation 12:11 “And they overcame him because of the blood of the Lamb and because of the word of their testimony, and they did not love their life even to death.” Then, it is on us to stay this way! More on that later.

Now back to living a “Christ Centered Life”. As I share what I believe God has on my heart to share, know that all of us are on our own journey with God. God has uniquely created each of us to serve Him. It is up to us to seek Him out in prayer and through His Word to find out just what He wants each of His wonderfully unique children to do! Now, let us get back to it, I have been battling (over thinking 🙂) to hear what He wants me to encourage you in. Many obstacles!! Then this morning as I near the deadline for this column, BAM! Right in front of me, something that I reference everyday is my list of what I believe God gave me to search over, that is a “Christ Centered Life”! There are 7, (the number 7 represents perfection in Scripture) here they are in the positioning of importance to me

1)Forgiveness/The Cross; through the Cross, the blood that He shed for us is the only way God will forgive us our sins!His blood redeemed, justified, cleansed and made our spirit new, the new man! Revelation 1:5 “And from Jesus Christ the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth. To Him who loves us, and released us from our sins by His blood.”

2)Faith/Believe; Ephesians 2:8-9 “For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; 9)not as a result of works, that no one should boast.” Hebrews 11:6 “And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him.”

3)Fullness/Father, Son, Holy Spirit; Colossians 2:9-12 “For in Him all the fullness of Deity dwells in bodily form, 10) and in Him you have been made complete, and He is the head over all rule and authority; 11) and in Him you were also circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, in the removal of the body of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ; 12) having been buried with Him in baptism, in which you were also raised up with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead.”

4)Follow/lay down self (selflessness); Matthew 16:24-26 “Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. 25) “For whoever wishes to save his life shall lose it; but whoever loses his life for My sake shall find it. 26) “For what will a man be profited, if he gains the whole world, and forfeits his soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?”

5)Favored/righteousness; Psalm 5:12 “For it is Thou who dost bless the righteous man, O LORD, Thou dost surround him with favor as with a shield.”

6)Friendship/relationship; John 15:13-15 “Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends. 14) “You are My friends, if you do what I command you. 15) “ No longer do I call you slaves, for the slave does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I have heard from My Father I have made known to you.”

7)Focused/be alert; Ephesians 5:14-17 “For this reason it says, Awake, sleeper, And rise from the dead, And Christ will shine on you.” 15) Therefore be careful how you walk, not as unwise men, but as wise, 16) making the most of your time, because the days are evil. 17) So then do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is.”

Know this that every person on this earth God predestined to be here! The good, bad and the ugly (there is no ugly to God, the world created that judgement!!) I like to say, the good, bad and the Chosen! Jesus, The Lamb WILLINGLY shed His BLOOD FOR EVERYONE!! Unfortunately not everyone will choose Him!

If you are having thoughts, dreams, encountering people and even this column is causing you to think or ponder on Jesus…HE IS CALLING YOU!! Please!! Answer His call! As you meditate on the Scriptures I have shared relating to living a “Christ Centered Life”, what makes it easier for me, not easy, because you know our flesh likes to have temper tantrums, is that my intent everyday is “is what I am doing glorifying God?”

If you are not Born Again and want to be, confess this out loud “ Dear Jesus, I am a sinner I know. Your Word says that I can call upon Your name and be saved, Romans 10:13 says for “EVERYONE WHO CALLS ON THE NAME OF THE LORD WILL BE SAVED.” I call on Your name now today to be saved Jesus! Take my life today and use it for Your purposes, for Your Kingdom! I confess today that by grace I am saved through faith knowing that You went to the Cross and willingly gave Your Life for my life, paid the debt I can not pay and by Your blood shed, Your death, burial and Resurrection on the 3rd day I am now saved, this is a gift from God I know! Thank You Jesus!!!

To complete your Salvation you must be water baptized, this is your burial of your dead self and your new life with power, the Holy Spirit. 1 Peter 3:21-22 “ And corresponding to that, baptism now saves you, not the removal of dirt from the flesh, but an appeal to God for a good conscience through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, 22) who is at the right hand of God, having gone into heaven, after angels and authorities and powers had been subjected to Him.” Matthew 28:19 “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, 20) teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the ages.”