FOCUS ON CHRIST
Success in the Christian life is a matter of focus. From which perspective should we view the world, as well as the work and ministry of the church? There can be no question but that the perspective should be a Christ-centered one. We can go nowhere for God until we begin to see things as He sees them—and His viewpoint is concerned with how they reflect upon His Son. This is the question that we need to ask about every course and activity: what is the relation of this that we are considering to the glory of the Son of God?
It is certain, from what we know of the divine mind as revealed in Scripture that all of God’s workings have been intended to spotlight Christ. Paul deals with the supremacy of Jesus in all things in the Colossian letter, wherein he states that “all things were created by Him and for Him” (1:16). Jesus is “before all things, and in Him all things hold together” (v. 17). Following is that great text about the relationship of Christ to the church and the church to Christ. His relationship to us is Headship: “And He is the head of the body, the church…” (v. 18).
He is the reason that we exist and all of our power and energy and spiritual resources are derived from Him. Our relationship to him is expressed this way: “that in all things He may have the preeminence” (v. 18). In other words, we are here to glorify Him. Not only do we exist as Christians because of Him, but to glorify Him. His name is behind us and before us. The church is the only group of people upon earth who have been called to glorify the redemptive accomplishments of Christ.
Pride and vainglory must therefore be a thing of the past. We must put away such childish things as seeking personal acclaim in the eyes of men. We are seeking only that Christ is magnified. This is His story, and if all believers would prostrate themselves humbly to the divinely appointed mission of presenting Him attractively to the world, then there would be no dissension or schism in the body of Christ.
All we would ultimately care about is that Jesus looks good to a lost and dying world; that by our lives, people in the world would see how appealing and how lovely Jesus is. All human boasting would cease immediately (Gal. 6:14), for everything would be viewed from the perspective of Christ. To lose one’s self in the glory of Christ and to the absolute magnification of Him alone is the highest Christian calling there is.
Dewayne Dunaway
