Ephesians 1:22 And He put all things in subjection under His feet, and gave Him as head over all things to the church.
I once found a fascinating quote by A.W. Tozer that went like this:
The present position of Christ in the gospel churches may be likened to that of a king in a limited monarchy. He is lauded, supported. But his real authority is small. Nominally that king is head over all, but in every crisis someone else makes the decisions. On formal occasions he appears in his royal attire to deliver tame, colorless speeches put into his mouth by some real rulers of the country. The whole thing may be no more than good-natured make-believe....
Then he draws the parallel to Christ and the Church. Read carefully:
Among the gospel churches, Christ is now in fact little more than a beloved symbol. All hail the power of Jesus' name is the church's national anthem and the cross is her official flag. But in the week by week services of the church and the day by day conduct of the members, someone else, not Christ, makes the decisions.
I believe Jesus Christ has been robbed of His authority in the homes today. To have authority means to have the right to rule, to take the rightful responsibility, power and ownership of ruling, and to give it to another person who has authority to rule you 100 percent. We haven't rejected Christ; we've just cordially reduced Him and robbed Him of the ownership He deserves within our individual lives.
No, we haven't rejected Christ outright. Instead we have simply modified Him. When God's Word gets too hard, we begin to modify and reinterpret those things as they best fit us.
But He wants much more. In the next two devotions I'll continue discussing Christ's authority.
Prayer: Honestly go to Jesus Christ in prayer right now. Pray about His authority in your life and home.
Discuss: How do you think your life and marriage would be different if you gave Christ authority in your life?
8 comments:
We haven't rejected Christ; we've just cordially reduced Him and robbed Him of the ownership He deserves within our individual lives. Pretty powerful stuff. 100% Do you know anyone who is 100%? Who captures every thought for Christ. I am not sure we are expected to be perfect, but I do believe we should strive for it. I pray that we all seek His authority in our lives, at hame and work.
Blessing,
cas
It's just like us to rob, reduce, and modify HIM so that WE can maintain control. How naive and narrow-minded.
LORD, we are Yours. Rule over us. Protect us. Remind us that without You, we are nothing. Amen.
tba (from Dublin)
from Dublin!!!! Very cool.
This is humbling!! This is really appropriate for me right now. The Focus on Christ. The fall is so busy for most of us. So many events and activities and duties take precedence during this time. It's a great gut check, spiritually.
Dublin...Is that central PA?
great blog. somtimes i think, could you imagine in say 20 or 50 years a world that has marginalized Christ so much to the point where there are no more churches? where chistianity is no longer preached? it's scary to think but on some levels i feel like we are headed in that direction. at the same time, i know there are many christian warriors out there. just a question of who will win. and, how and when does God step in in all of this. How and when does he say enough is enough.
This reminds me of a sermon Ray Bentley in SD, CA gave once about the "two" Gods, the forgiving, loving always there always waiting always loving God, and the All-powerful- raining sulfur down-wipe-out the world's greatest city-God. There's the God we need to lean on when we've made a mistake and the God we need to fear. We (as a society) don't fear God. In a similar way, we lean on Christ to forgive us, to be a rallying point, to help us to feel better in tough times, but when he "pulls the microphone/gavel/power switch out of our hand" we don't want to let go. We're like the father of a 15 year-old. We trust, love, and want to be proud of our "new driver", but we don't REALLY want to hand over the keys.
Father, drive me to work and drive me through work.
crb
Strong reminder that living for Christ is giving him complete control 24/7 and not just on "Sunday".
- LT
Post a Comment