Making Christ Our 1st Principle, Part 2
In our last post, we looked at why Christ is our first principle. If Christ is going to be our first principle, then we need to focus way more on Him than we do on overcoming our sins, loving our families, dreaming about success, or anything else. We are going to discuss several ways to focus more on Him. I wanted to start with one that I’ve seen helps us take what we already know about Him and bring it deeper into our hearts so we functionally believe it more.
If you were asked, “What’s cool about Christ?” How would you answer that question?
What I find cool about Christ is how He answered the Pharisees and those who wanted to trap Him. He always had an answer to thwart their plans and showed Himself to be wise, trustworthy, and extremely insightful.
I also love how He engaged people no one else wanted to engage. He touched those with leprosy. He ate with sinners and tax collectors. He let a prostitute pour perfume on His feet and clean His feet with her hair. He chose as His disciples 12 ordinary men who were not sought out for the Scriptural insights. He even called Judas His friend when Judas was about to betray Him.
I love reading about how Jesus responded to people’s fear. When people were experiencing something that really scared them, Jesus would overcome the scary thing in such a way that they ended up fearing Him more than what they were originally afraid of. For example, when He healed the Legion-possessed man, and that man sat in his right mind clothed. Everyone was stunned by the power Jesus had and was even more afraid of Him than the Legion-possessed man.
I love how much faith Jesus showed. Like when He was fully asleep on a cushion when there was a bad storm that even experienced sailors feared. By faith, He knew they would be fine. (I want faith like that when I face storms).
I love how He remained sinless despite being tempted by Satan and being tempted in every way we have been tempted. I love how He willingly was our Substitute. He took every ounce of sin debt we owed and paid it.
As I write these things, my heart beats faster. I feel warmed. I feel loved. I feel this desire to praise and thank Him. My love for Him is palpable in just five short paragraphs, and I have zero desire to sin. I want Him.
Imagine if you did this throughout the day, especially at key points during your day. For example, I felt slightly crusty and distant from Him when I woke up this morning. I wish I had used the signal of my “feeling” distant to ask myself what is cool about Him. I probably would have had a healthier breakfast.
Looking at my calendar, I see a 15 minute gap between meetings at 9:45am. I am putting in my calendar to ask myself what is so cool about Christ at that time. There is a 30min gap at 2:30pm. I will take a few minutes at that time to do the same. I will probably be tired when I finish the day and want to veg out. I will take a few minutes to think about what I find cool about Him then.
You get the idea. Take 3 minutes or more to think about what’s so cool about Christ at key times during the day so you can remain close to Him.
In our next post, we will look at ways to connect to Christ, even when you don’t want to. Return to the previous post here.
Prayer: Lord Jesus, I lose sight of how wonderful you are. I forget that when I think about what’s cool about you or what I love about you, I get glimpses of your greatness, and I want to worship you. Father, please let this be something I do throughout the day. Please lead me to do this with others. Please bring people in my life where we can talk about what we each find so cool about you so we gain insights from what the other sees.
Chew On This:
What would your life be like if you answered this question throughout the day: what’s so cool about Christ?