The Dwelling Place: Christ Centered
Here’s a question for you to ask at your next dinner party or small group gathering: “How would people describe your life - one as being Christ-centered, or centered on other things?”
If you really want to know who your true friends are, ask this question. If we are honest, it’s much easier to talk about being Christ-centered than it is living a Christ-centered life. Those who really care about you and the formation of your soul will give you an honest answer even if it’s one you don’t want to hear.
All of humanity works to build their lives around something: money, success, prestige, their jobs, or their families. Individually these are not wrong unless they become the center and prime motivation of our heart; if any one of them were to take that place, then they would become our god.
To use the term Christ-centered is to understand that it is referring to a singular way for how to live one’s life. A Christocentric life, therefore, is a life that is built on, and around, a commitment to the Lord Jesus Christ.
The ministry and mission of The Dwelling Place has been built from the ground up as a Christ-centered ministry that provides healing and hope to women and children who have been victims of domestic abuse. If Christ were not at the core of this ministry, The Dwelling Place would not be able to offer the hope and healing for those who come through their doors.
The Dwelling Place stands on the truth that Jesus Christ is both the light and life of the world (John 8:12), and all who call upon Him will be saved and will have eternal life (Romans 10:13). The Dwelling Place understands that the women and children who enter their program need to know not only that they are safe, but that they are loved. The best way that The Dwelling Place extends love is by teaching them about the author of Love – God, revealed through His Son, Jesus Christ.
“To live a Christ-centered life is to have an internal passion for something greater than what the world externally offers.”
To live a Christ-centered life is to have an internal passion for something greater than what the world externally offers. It is a motivation from within that compels a person to make Jesus their highest aim for the pleasure of bringing God the highest glory. The Apostle Paul, after his conversion on the road to Damascus (Acts 9), lived his life with a holy motivation that compelled him to glorify God. The Apostle reveals in his letter to the Philippians that he has learned the way of a Christocentric life: “but whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost everything. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith.” (3:7-9)
Cultivating a Christocentric life may seem like something for the scholarly, privileged, or the more radical of faith, but that’s not so.
In Matthew 11:28-30 Jesus says, “Come to Me all who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.
The invitation Jesus offers is for all people. He knows the world can be a harsh and burdensome place; therefore, His invitation is to join Him and to live life with Him. A person who lives life centered around the burdens of this world will end up working alone as they “yoke” themselves to their sin, perfectionism, need for approval, or their pride. A Christ-centered life frees people from such burdens through Jesus’ invitation to take His yoke upon us, which He promises to be easy and light. This does not mean that the moment we harness ourselves to Jesus that all our troubles, worries, and burdens go away. Instead, it gives our spirit a resolve as we commit to shouldering the yoke of Christ by living a life that brings glory to God.
Like the Apostle Paul, when we seek to make Christ the center of our life, we too will have a different view of those things we once worked so hard to achieve or possess. Truly, it’s not about the things in life that matter as much as it is about keeping Christ at the center of all things so that God will be glorified. Consider these three benefits to a Christ-centered life.
1. Living a Christ-centered life brings peace.
Knowing who we are and Whose we are is the first thing we can do to help release ourselves from feelings of fear and anxiety. Just telling someone to have more faith, or to stop worrying does not help build a bridge to where their heart needs to find comfort and peace. Rather, by focusing on your daily communing with Jesus, this will help to cultivate the abiding relationship He desires to have with you. The more time you spend with Him in prayer, worship, and the reading of His Word, the more central He becomes in your life. Over time, His words and love will cause your spiritual roots to deepen as you nourish your soul by abiding in Him. Soon your anxious thoughts and fears will succumb to His peace and will calm your anxious spirit.
Isaiah 26:3 You keep in perfect peace whose mind is steadfast on you, because he trusts in you.
2. Living a Christ-centered life brings hope
Hope, as it's described in the Bible, is much more than wishful thinking. Biblical hope is a future certainty with the expectation that it will happen. It's not based on positive thinking or some outside chance. For those who believe in Christ, our hope is based on the irrevocable work and words of Jesus Christ.
The reason we can have this hope is because of the great love which Christ lavished on us when we were yet still sinners; He died for us. He paid for our sin with His perfect life. His death is our guarantee that He will one day make all things new (Revelation 21:5).
Those who believe have a future certainty – a hope unlike what the world offers. There will come a day when sadness and sorrow will exist no more. For God will wipe away every tear from our eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain, for the former things have passed away (Revelation 21:4).
3. Living a Christ-centered life bears much fruit
The fruit of the Spirit is divine; if it were not so, Jesus would not have said, “These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may be in you and that your joy may be full.” (John 15:11) Having a joy-filled life is a byproduct of living a life that is grafted into the Vine. Jesus says, “I am the Vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit.” (John 15:1-2).
In Paul’s letter to the believers in Galatia, he encourages them to live a Christ-centered life by being mindful in the way they live. But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh (Galatians 5:16-17).
God’s Word is clear for those who seek to live a Christ-centered life. Whatever circumstances we find ourselves in, the purity of our fruit does not change if our hearts remain steadfast on Christ. Whether in good times or bad, the fruit displayed in our lives will be that of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness, and self-control if we keep Christ at the center.
So, now it’s time for me to ask you the question… How would you describe your life - one as being Christ-centered or one centered on other things?
Gretchen Stevenson
Pastor, Teacher, Speaker
Gretchen Stevenson Ministries