Jesus at the Center

Today I found myself singing the chorus of a song by Israel Houghton, Jesus at the Center of It All. I had to focus on the lyrics because they kept escaping me and then I realized that was the point of the song. To stay focused. To make Him the goal, the bullseye, so to speak.

To have a goal you must have a singleness of vision, a purpose, a focus that you re so intent on that nothing can distract you from it. Yeah, that is so not me. I have the attention span of a gnat and that’s on a good day.

I get up in the morning and make a list of things I will accomplish that day and before I get to the second thing on the list, I am off and running way…off…course…How does this keep happening? Pastor Rick Warren says that setting goals is a spiritual discipline and that God set goals. In Ephesians 1:9-10, we read, “having made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His good pleasure, which He purposed in Himself (a goal), that in the dispensation of the fullness of times He might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth – in Him.” (NKJV)

God had a plan! He set a goal. And He shall see it accomplished because His Word will not dare return to Him void. He stays focused and intentional and purposed. We are to imitate His examples and He left us an instruction manual in all different translations so that none of us can say we didn’t quite understand what He meant. If I want Jesus to be the center of it all, from beginning to the end, it will always be, it’s always been Him, I must place Him there on the throne of my heart and not allow anyone or anything else to dethrone Him even for a nanosecond.

When playing darts, the main goal is always to hit the center of the board. You don’t get as many points for hitting the rings on the outside of the board. If you think of the wheel of bicycle, all the spokes are connected to the hub at the center of the wheel. It’s the center that holds everything together. What is holding you together? The Bible tells us in Proverbs 4:23 to guard our hearts because from it, which is located in our very center, flow the very wellsprings of life. Everything at the center has a way of revealing itself, at least I’ve found that to be true in my life. Oh, I can keep things hidden for a brief time, but eventually, the truth always surfaces…

So I ask you to consider, what is at the center of your life today? Who is sitting on the throne of your heart? It would behoove us all to answer this question with great wisdom and care as we enter the second quarter of a new year. Make Him the very center of your life today and every day, won’t you? I know I plan to.