Twenty-five years ago today I graduated the first phase of my Bible school training. As a member of the graduating class of the two-year program of the school, I was asked, along with several others, to write a small “devotion” to be included in the commencement program.
About five days ago, I came across that program, stashed in a file in the attic, and reread what was written there over two decades before. I was encouraged to find a very clear and concise expression of that which is, to this day, my central spiritual passion: the centrality and supremacy of the Lord Jesus Christ in all things. I said to myself when I read it, “I could have written this yesterday!”
I hope this is an encouragement to you as well, not only in its contents, but also as an example of the kind of steadfastness that comes when we zero in on God’s “bulls eye.” When we get locked in on the central passion of God’s heart, there’s just no budging! And unless God changes His mind, haha, I will still be speaking and contending for these very same things in another twenty-five years from now!
So, here is the devotion that was written in May of 1989:
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“…that in all things He might have the preeminence.”
Colossians 1:18The Lord is bringing forth a people in this hour who are after His own heart. In the heart of God, the preeminent focus is the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the supreme object of the Father’s love and affection. The Holy Spirit is ever working to reveal Christ’s glory, so that now in a people, Christ may become the preeminent focus.
Our natural tendency is to be drawn to lesser things. Christ, the Truth, becomes lost in the milieu of doctrines, teachings and creeds; Christ, the Way and the Life is lost in the hodgepodge of programs, methods and traditions; Christ, the Head, is lost in the proliferation of religious structures, organizations and institutions. In all this, the heart of God is broken. The Church has forsaken her first love, and the glory of the Lord has lifted.
God is moving by His Spirit, however, to once again restore the preeminent place of His glorious Son in our midst. He is looking for those who will settle for nothing less than the full restoration of Christ’s supremacy in the Church. Then the glory of the Lord will return and abide upon us. The full intention of our God will be realized in His people as we give Him His rightful place and fully focus our eyes to behold “the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.” 2 Corinthians 4:6
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My revelation and understanding of the centrality and supremacy of Christ has deepened and developed over these twenty-five years, but the kernel and essence is still the same, and that will never change.
To bring this more fully into the present, I’ve listed below a number of related posts and pages that I’ve written for this blog over the past couple of years. I invite you to read these, which go more deeply into these central matters of God’s eternal purpose in Christ and for the Church. The Lord desires all of us to come fully in line with His heart, mind, will, and passion, and be co-laborers with Him in His glorious, unchanging purpose. I pray that you are encouraged unto this end in Him through these posts!
All blessings in Him,
David
Related posts and pages:
About
Our Deepest Convictions
Shaped by God’s Eternal Purpose
Co-Laboring With God
Centrality and Balance
Centrality and Eccentricity
Foundations (“Christ the Center” series)
Subsequently added (since publishing post):
The Stronghold of Spiritual Eccentricity (#propheticresistance)
“Christocentricity/Eccentricity Spiritual Theory” – Explained and Illustrated (with animated short)
Christ-Centered Christianity 
God bless you David.
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Reblogged this on Christ Centered Teaching and commented:
David and I share a Christ Centered name for our blogs and mission for our purposes.
We started blogging about the same time but didn’t know each other.
I highly recommend what David has written.
God bless.
Because He first loved us.
The Author of
Christ Centered Teaching
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Thank you CCT! I’m honored by your comments and reblog! May God bless you as you continue to share the unsearchable riches of Christ!
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This is a good post because as you have stated, it shows the steadfastness of the truth as God revealed it to you as a young man. God set your face and focus early and you have never wavered.
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Dear Janet,
As one who has known me for over four decades, since I was twelve…from the lost tweenage/teenage neighborhood friend of your son’s (who you warned your daughter to stay away from 😦 ), to the radically saved and transformed young man who showed up at your place of employment (by the specific word of the Lord) and became your co-worker and then future employee in your own business, to the spiritual son who brought you to the home fellowship we were a part of for five years, to our sojourns through a number of institutional expressions of the church, to becoming involved romantically with your daughter, to marrying your daughter, to being, alternately, a transient Bible school couple and basement dwellers in your home, to Carolyn’s and my twenty years outside of the institutional church, and nearly twenty-nine years now with me as your son-in-law, I think you know me PRETTY WELL!
So thank you for your comment! It means a whole lot to me! And thank you for all of your support and mothering over the years. Surely God is good! 🙂
Love, love, love,
David
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Right along the lines of T.A.Sparks, Andrew Murray, etc… Very true observations in your post…The Lord bless you
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Thank you, brother! I’ve been richly blessed by both of these men as they have revealed Christ in their writings. May we continue to be a clear voice (…and not a mere echo) to our generation!
Thanks for your comment!
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You are welcome my brother. The really sad thing in our day and age is that there is a new generation growing up who have never had the benefit of the spiritual insights given in the writings of Nee, Murray, Sparks, Ian Thomas, John Hunter, Jessie Penn Lewis, Roy Hession, and on and on. These are the believers that I cut my teeth on. Although I do not agree with all and every viewpoint of theirs, that does not dissuade me from extolling the truths they reveal from their depth of understanding in the things of God, Jesus, and the Spirit….truths that are so lacking today as churchianity progresses farther and farther away from following Jesus. Keep at it brother. He who has ears to hear will hear…must hear.
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Thanks for these additional thoughts. All of these men you’ve mentioned I’ve also received much from (with the exception of John Hunter who I’m not familiar with.) We are living in an ever-increasing culture of distraction and shallowness that men/women of this depth are either unknown or are find no resonating chord in the heart. May God raise up a remnant who deeply know Him and truly have “ears to hear.”
Thanks for adding to this dicussion.
(My apologies for the delayed response. Our internet was down most of yesterday! 😦 )
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Truly blessed to read this post dear Brother David. It encourages the rest of us to remain true to the light The Lord gives and steadfast to truths He reveals in matters related to Him and His purposes. Thank you for the post and may our Lord continue to bless you abundantly and use your writings to further edify and build up His people!
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Thank you, Preeti, for your comment. I’m glad this post was a source of encouragement in this way. I believe in the end, it will be the twin virtues of faith and faithfulness that will cause us to walk in all of God’s will and purpose for us and enable us to receive a “Well done…” when we stand before Him on that day. May you and your family be encouraged to keep your hands to the plow in India as you have been. Blessings to all!
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