Jesus At Home In Your Heart By Pete BriscoeSample

It’s All About Jesus

He thought her beautiful, believed her impeccably wise; dreamed of her, wrote poems to her, which, ignoring the subject, she corrected in red ink. — Virginia Woolf, Mrs. Dalloway

There’s a secret to reading Scripture. Really, there is! If you’re someone who struggles to turn the pages because the Bible doesn’t seem to make sense, this secret is for you:

Everything written before Jesus is pointing to Jesus. Everything written after Jesus is pointing to Jesus.

Jesus is the central subject in the Bible. So when you read a story about David or Noah or Isaiah, you can ask yourself: What is this telling me about God? How does this point toward Jesus?

The same secret applies to the Christian life. So often, we find ourselves asking: Where am I supposed to go? Who am I supposed to serve? What am I supposed to care about?

These aren’t bad questions. But the subject is all wrong. Life in Christ isn’t about accolades and accomplishments. It’s about Jesus alive in me.

When Paul wrote to the church in Galatia, he told them—along with all of us—how to live their new lives in Christ. He shared his personal statement of faith, and it sounded like this:

• I’m dead.
• I’m indwelt.
• I’m depending.

I have been crucified with Christ… I’m dead ...and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me... I’m indwelt ...The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God… I’m depending (Galatians 2:20a, additions and emphases mine)

That said, here are some better questions: Who is my strength? Who is my love? Who is the overflow of grace in my life?

The answer is simple. It isn’t you or me. It’s Jesus.

God whose Spirit indwells me, I’ve been trying to live as the star of my own show—and I’m exhausted. Instead, I long to follow the example of that first star the night You came to earth. Let Your Spirit shine in me and point to You. Amen.