Using Christ, Missing Christ

Times without number I have heard Christians say, “Most of the Jews didn’t recognize that Jesus was the Messiah because they were looking for a conquering Messiah who would deliver them from the Romans.”

Yet, how many of us are looking for that same type of Messiah? We want Christ to defeat the opposing political party. We want Christ to further our economic policies. We want Christ to exalt our nation above all other nations and to further our foreign policy. We want Christ to destroy our domestic and foreign enemies.

Well then, if that is the kind of Messiah that we are looking for, that we are promoting…perhaps, just perhaps, we are missing the True Messiah in our lives and in our churches.  

A Little

This morning I found much comfort in these words:

“I know your deeds. Behold, I have put before you an open door which no one can shut, because you have a little power, and have kept My word, and have not denied My name” (Revelation 3:8, italics mine).

I admit that sometimes, perhaps many times, I lament my lack of effectiveness toward others in Christ. Yes, yes, I understand that “unless Yahweh build the house, they labor in vain who build it”, and I hear Jesus saying, “Without me you can do nothing.” Yes, I know that it isn’t the measure of my faith but rather the object of my faith that is critical.

And yet, I still struggle at times with the idea that after all these years I am not a more faithful servant of Christ, toward Him and toward others.

So then, the thought that we can be those who have but “a little power” and yet keep His Word and not deny His Name; the thought that He sees us and sustains us, that Christ loves us (Rev. 3:9), that Christ keeps us in this hour of trial (Rev. 3:10), and that He has a wonderful inheritance for us (Rev. 3:12) – well, this thought is comforting to me.

To have but “a little power” is enough, yes it is enough, if it means that I am in Christ and He is in me.

It Seems to Me…Christ-centered or Not?

Once again, I’m being encouraged to embrace a popular speaker and author on the basis of his positive and loving and life-changing message. To purchase his books, to attend his presentation, to get on the bandwagon.

In response I ask the question I always ask, “Is this about Jesus Christ? Is this Christocentric (Christ-centered)?”

So, it seems to me that if I go to this person’s website that I should readily find the answer – but I don’t. I have to look for the answer, I have to look for Jesus, I have to keep looking; I am still looking.

Now then, my question is whether this author’s message is Christocentric, that means, “Is it Christ-centered?” If it is Christ-centered then it seems to me that I would see Christ Jesus just as soon as I land on the author’s webpage. It seems to me that once I begin clicking through webpages that Jesus would be front and center, but I keep clicking, I keep reading, I am looking for Jesus. It seems to me that if I have to look for Jesus that I just may have answered my question about whether Jesus is the center of the author’s message.

But of course this is against the grain and I should not be unreasonable; after all, the message does others so much good, and it has changed lives, and people are better off for it, and, after all, it really is about Jesus after all, how could it not be if it helps so many people. It just feels so good and right.

Few people, men or women, commit adultery with someone who repulses them.