Centering

I know a lot of "Christians" who see Jesus as one more thing to add to their life.

Make no mistake - they think he's important - probably even more than their favorite sports teams or vacation spots. But the issue is that he's been pushed to the sea of other things that make up their life. Things that all orbit around the most important thing in their life - their self.

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When people ask me to explain discipleship, I use this picture. Jesus at the center and everything about our lives around the edges. Discipleship is simply the process of centering everything to Jesus.

What does this mean? MBHS.

Let's use money as an example. Centering our Money on Jesus is an MBHS process:

  • MIND - Am I thinking about my money like Jesus would?
  • BODY - Am I spending my money like Jesus would?
  • HEART - Am I asking Jesus how my money affects other people?
  • SOUL - Do I see my money as belonging to God and not my own?

Apply this simple MBHS process to every part of your life and you'll start to see where the gaps are in your discipleship.

If Jesus is Lord, following him means we bring everything about us to him and let him show us how to think, act, love, and see with him at the Center.

Some Simple Things to Do
  • Start actually talking to Jesus your Lord about the stuff in your life. Ask him what he thinks about it. Ask him to show you what to do.
  • Get some help from people who are farther along in the Centering journey. Ask them to help you and encourage you. Ask them to pray for you.
  • Get a partner. A friend who is also trying to Center on Jesus. Share a specific area of your life with them. Check in with each other everyday.
  • You can't be like someone you don't know - spend some time exploring who Jesus is and what he is like. Spend some time reading through the gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John). When you discover something about how Jesus thought or acted about something, be like that.

The world needs to know the good news about Jesus. But they also need to see it lived out in the lives of people who have re-centered their lives on Jesus. When we make him Lord of more and more areas of our life, the world will see and people will start asking us how we live the way we do. That's when we'll tell them the "mystery" Paul talks about in Colossians 1:27:

We don't live. We let Jesus live in and through us.

Peace.