The Beauty of a Christ-Centered Life
Rev. Aniekan "Mbomboyo" Okokon ·
One thing have I asked of the Lord, that will I seek after: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord. — Psalm 27:4
We speak of a Christ-centred life as if it were a duty, and forget that David spoke of it as a beauty. He did not ask to dwell in God's house because he ought to. He asked because there was nowhere lovelier to be.
Ordered without being rigid
A life with Christ at the centre has a shape. Things fall into their places - work under His lordship, rest under His promise, money under His ownership - and the result is not a cage but a garden, where everything grows where it belongs. People who meet such a person sense the order before they can name it. There is a calm about them that is not passivity.
Unhurried
Jesus was never in a hurry, and never late. A believer who lives from His finished work has stopped racing to earn what is already given. He can be interrupted. He can wait. He can spend an hour with a grieving friend without checking the time, because his worth is not on the clock.
Generous
Centred on Christ, a person stops clutching. Money, time, credit and forgiveness flow outward, because the source is not in him but in the One who has all things. Generosity is what security looks like when it moves.
Free
- Free from the need to be seen, because the Father sees.
- Free from the fear of failure, because acceptance was never earned.
- Free from comparison, because the measure is Christ, not the neighbour.
- Free to say no, and free to say yes, because only one voice commands.
Beautiful to whom?
Not always to the world, which finds such a life puzzling and sometimes offensive. But beautiful to God, who sees His Son in it, and beautiful to the person living it, who has found what David found: one thing worth asking for. Think on these things, Paul says - whatever is lovely, whatever is excellent. The loveliest thing is Christ, and a life that gazes at Him takes on His beauty, the way a face takes on light from a window.