“Christ-Centered Living”

A little 9-year-old girl came home from VBS one day. She proudly told her parents and little brother, “Jesus is living in my heart now!” Mom and Dad were so proud and made a big deal out of it.

Later that day, her little brother said something she didn’t like, and she hauled off and knocked the stuffing out of him!

He didn’t know much about the church, but he knew a Christian shouldn’t act like that!

He said, “I thought you said Jesus was living in your heart?”

She replied, “He is, but He’s asleep right now!”

The little girl’s response is humorous but also indicates how some believers view their life in Christ. The goal of every Christian should be Christ-centered living. However, like the little girl, some Christians don’t see the value in allowing Christ to permeate every area of their life. Consequently, some believers develop spiritual and secular compartments that do not intermingle. In contrast, a Christ-centered focus means we transition from compartmentalized living.

Transitioning to a Christ-centered approach is not easy. In Kenneth Boa’s classic text on spiritual formation, he declares that we don’t need to view Christ as a component of our lives, but as the center of it. Boa argues that Christ-centered living requires a “radical shift from an earthbound to a biblical perspective on life.” Since many believers fail to prioritize intake of God’s Word consistently, they are bound to be “more influenced by their culture than by the Creator,” as Boa rightly points out.

Compartmentalization and resistance to Christ’s lordship seriously threaten Christ-centered living. Boa posits that compartmentalization places Christianity in one compartment of a believer’s life, but that compartment never positively affects the believer’s weekly routine. The problem is not a lack of Christ’s presence in the believer’s life. Christ is present, but his lordship is resisted because people think they “have both the wisdom and control to accomplish what is best [in their lives] without complete dependence on the Lord.” Thus, believers must overcome the dilemma of compartmentalization and resistance to Christ’s lordship.

To show the contrasting approaches to Christ-centered living, Boa offered the following diagram that illustrates a compartmentalized versus Christ-centered life. In the compartmentalized life, Christ is present, but resistance to his lordship regulates Christ to a spiritual compartment in the believer’s life that can grow and develop, but it has little or no effect on other compartments deemed secular instead of spiritual. In contrast, in the Christ-centered example, surrendering to Christ’s lordship results in Christ being the center of the hub that permeates all other areas of one’s life. As Boa correctly states, “When the heart is focused on [Christ], he becomes relevant to every part of life and empowers us to live before God in our work, our family, and our other activities.” In the Christ-centered life, there is no distinction between the spiritual and the secular; all things are done for him and through him” (Rom. 11:36; Phil. 4:13).

There are benefits to living a Christ-centered and non-compartmentalized life. One of the benefits is that Christ-centered living prevents us from living a wasted life. To help believers know the importance and impact of living to make a difference, John Piper observed, “But whatever you do, find the God-centered, Christ-exalting, Bible-saturated passion of your life, and find your way to say it and live for it and die for it. And you will make a difference that lasts. You will not waste your life.” Living a Christ-centered life can also prevent us from unintentionally moving God to the fringes of our lives. Billy Graham opined that “life [can] become unbalanced, and God gets pushed to the fringes in the process. Instead of staying at the center of our lives, Christ gradually gets relegated to the shadows.” We should always do our best to keep Christ at the center of our lives. In the words of Steven J. Lawson: “Everything in the Christian life revolves around Jesus Christ. Simply put, Christianity is Christ.” Moving forward, we must surrender to Christ’s lordship and resist the urge to live a compartmentalized life that separates the spiritual from the secular.