Centered Life -- Advancing Life!

Life is stalled ... stuck ... stimied...

                          ...unless... life is centered around a Holy God ... who is our Rock and our Deliverer...

Hannah suggests as much in her famed prayer in 1 Samuel 2:    “…I delight in [God’s] deliverance.  There is no one holy like the Lord, there is no one besides you; there is no Rock like our God…”  (1 Samuel 2:1-2).  

And so make the Lord the rock of all relationships.  For God is ultimately in control – we are not.  God is ultimately Supreme – and we are not.  

And the sooner we center ourselves around that reality, the sooner we’ll experience freedom in all relationships, and all of life.

A while back, author Tim Keller made a provocative statement “sin isn’t just doing bad things – it is fundamentally making good things ultimate things.”  Even a good thing like friends and family.   “I [mean] if you center your life and identity on your spouse or partner” – Keller notes – “…you will be emotionally dependent, jealous, and controlling. The other person's problems will be overwhelming to you.   

If you center your life and identity on your family and children, you will try to live your life through your children until they resent you or have no self of their own. At worst, you may abuse them when they displease you…If you center your life and identity on relationships and approval, you will be constantly overly hurt by criticism and thus always losing friends. You will fear confronting others and therefore will be a useless friend. Tim Keller, The Reason for God (Dutton, 2008), pp. 275-276, and Tim Keller, "Talking About Idolatry in a Postmodern Age," www.thegospelcoalition.org   

And so there is only one thing left: center your life on God -- a God who is ultimate – a God who is our Rock and Deliverer. 

 Most people know San Francisco is prone to earthquakes.      But most people do not know the safest place to be in San Francisco during an earthquake:  the very center of the Golden Gate Bridge.  Why?  Because every bit of concrete, every bit of macadam and pavement, and every bit of steel --all of it – is related one to the other.  

And those pieces collectively all relate to every piece of metal -- that ultimately relates to -- two giant cables -- that attach to two great piers -- that go down into solid bedrock -- and two anchors out on each side.

That translates into the genius of the Golden Gate Bridge:  every piece of the bridge grounded – rooted – anchored – in solid bedrock.  That’s how the Golden Gate Bridge is able to withstand any onslaught – any challenge – any quake!

That's the way we withstand any onslaught – any challenge – any quake.  As our lives and relationships are rooted – anchored – in solid bedrock.  

And there is only one bedrock – the Rock -- a Holy God – best expressed in Jesus – who is our Deliverer.   

And so anchor your life -- position your life -- center your life -- in Jesus – who is our Deliverer.