‘The center of your life’

By Bro. Jackie Stanfield
Pastor, First Baptist Church of Linden

Our lives are a multi-faceted gem that God wants to shape into something that will glorify Him. Too often we don’t have Him at the center of our lives; He just becomes another compartment along with many other areas.
 I reminded our folks the other day in a daily email devotion that I send out to them on the weekday mornings of one of my favorite illustrations. I like to use an old fashioned wagon wheel to show us an analogy of the way our lives should work.
The spokes on the wheel can represent the many facets of our lives such as our career, our leisure time, family time, social life, etc. Many times we put ourselves at the center of it all because, let’s face it, we are naturally selfish creatures.
If we are to live our lives following Christ as Lord then we must put Him at the hub of it all. He is to be like the hub of that wheel, touching every other part of our lives.
 If we aren’t careful we can begin to treat God like some kind of “spiritual Santa Claus” that we only call on when we want something.
He wants to be a part of every facet of our lives. He deserves to be Lord and Master over every part of who we are and what we do.
 Jesus reminded us in Matthew 6:33 that we are to “seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, and then all other things will be added unto us.”
In the context of that verse, Jesus had been talking about the necessities of life. Those basic daily needs of our lives will be provided by the Lord when we put Him first. That is His promise to us. King David wrote in Psalm 37:25 that he had been young but was now old, and he had never seen the righteous (those who truly follow the Lord) forsaken, nor their seed begging for bread. David has seen by experience that God will always be true to His Word.
Take inventory today, and make sure you are putting Christ at the center of your life. He wants to be involved in all your daily decisions and activities. When we seek Him first, He promises to meet all the needs we have. As the old hymn put it, God says “Trust Me, Try Me, Prove Me, saith the Lord of Hosts and see if a blessing, an unmeasured blessing, I will not pour out on you.” God will always bless our obedience to Him.