What to Remember

    I just finished an amazing book called ‘The Cross Centered Life’ by C. J. Mahaney.  I would highly recommend this book to any and everyone no matter where on your faith journey you might be.  He just reminds the whole time of simple truths of the gospel that we often over look or neglect to make an every day part of our life.  So so awesome.  I feel like I just finished a week at a church retreat with an amazing speaker.  One of those mountain top moments if you will. 
   I think I was so moved by this because it is exactly what the title says it is; Cross Centered.  I think I live my life day to do thinking about what am I going to do.  I think about stressors I might encounter or places I want to go….. Or don’t want to go.  I think about my friends and family and how I want to spend time with them.  I think about my future and how scary it can look sometimes.  I think about changing careers and try and figure out what it is the Lord really wants me to do with my life.  My thoughts flitter around from thing to thing.  Worry to worry.  Joy to joy and then I pause for a few moments now and again and realize, like I did today, that I desperately need a focus.  Just like a runner has a goal.  Or a series of goals along the path, we also need that same driving force; that same focus. 
    I believe that focus is Jesus.  Just as Mr. Mahaney said in his book and just as Paul writes in almost every book he penned in the Bible, if we are truly focused on Jesus and the Cross, everything else will truly fall into place. It is the most important focal point we as Christians should have.  The closer we cling to the cross, the more of an abiding relationship we have with Jesus.  The more we abide in Christ the more our desires align with His.  Our thoughts become more Christlike, because we are so Christ focused. 
   So all the worries of “Am I in God’s will for my life?”  “Is this relationship one I should be in?”  “Where do I go from here?” “Is this the Church I should be attending?“ They all become less pressing because our focus isn’t so much on what we need or want, it is focused on bringing Glory to our Father in Heaven.  As a result, the worry disappears and we end up with Gods provision anyway, but without the stress we allow to rule our lives.  
     I think that is such a huge tool that Satan uses to distract us.  The worry, the stress, the insecurity, the pride.  All of it used to direct us away from the Cross and onto ourselves.  My challenge from here on out is to make an intentional time every day where I remind myself of the Cross.  I remind my self of the gift Jesus gave me and the grace the was so richly poured out over my life.  Knox Chamblin writes “ Vital to Paul’s effectiveness as an apostle is that he never forgets his day as a persecutor…..An ongoing awareness of grace reminds Paul of the appalling sin from which he has been delivered; an ongoing awareness of sin keeps him dependent on grace.” I think this is true for all of us.  I know it is for me.  If we took a moment and thought about all that the Lord has done for us and redeemed us from, think of how great our reservoir of faith would be.   If we remembered that every day, the freedom we could live in knowing that God is faithful.  If that is not a reason to serve out heavenly father I don’t know what is.  He has given us so much.
     Anyway, I know this blog might be a little intense or full of buzz words and rambling, but the simple truth is enough to make it worth the read.  Jesus is everything.  He loves you.  He died for you. If we focus on that, freedom is ours. Freedom from whatever you might be struggling with. Freedom from yourself.   So embrace that freedom.  Embrace the cross.  Embrace Jesus.