I John 1:1 - 2:2
Our next four entries will be about Centering Life on the Word of Life. As I began thinking on Centering I thought of a couple of things.
Two years ago, I took up the hobby of making pens by turning wood or acrylic using a lathe (the lathe is a tool that spins the material and you use chisel like tools to make round parts). I have some pens that, until they are fully assembled, look great. All smooth and shiny. Beautiful colors and grain patterns. Apparently round. Then I take the pieces and try and assemble them, and realize when I first prepared to turn the wood or acrylic that I over tightened the mandrel and bowed the stock. In simple terms, I turned a circle that did not have the right center. It’s not a big difference – maybe a 32nd of an inch, but you can feel it when you grip the pen. It’s just not right. It looks ok, and it writes ok, but it’s not ok.
A Lutheran friend of mine over 25 years ago shared a concept with me of a belief spiral. The things in the center, like the point of a compass, are not negotiable. My core beliefs include God is the all powerful, all knowing eternal creator. Jesus is His son who came and died for us and rose again. The Holy Spirit is living with us now and guiding us each day. The bible is God’s word and salvation is available to all who repent and ask God for forgiveness. A little farther out may be things like “Is Jonah and the whale a true story or a parable?” Social drinking is out there somewhere. Way – way out (for me) are things like my grandparents not allowing cards in the house because they were only good for gambling and dancing is off the chart. When I think about this – I realize that I am more tolerant at this point in my life than I would have expected, because most of the things Christians disagree about are not in the center of the spiral.
There have been many times in my life where I was a circle on the wrong center. I looked ok on the outside, and other people might not have even noticed it, but my center was off, and I felt it. There have been times when I got distracted by things that were way out on the belief spiral, and I allowed those differences to be barriers to me building friendships with Christians who were a little different from me.
Are you happy with your center? Is it daily on Christ? Over the next four entries, we’ll look at what God has to say to us about centering our lives on Him.
