Six Steps to a God-Centred Life
Introduction
William Temple, like his father before him, was Archbishop of Canterbury (1942–1944). Among his many remarkable achievements, he wrote a superb commentary on the Gospel of John. He wrote the entire commentary, entitled Readings in St John’s Gospel, while praying on his knees before God.
About worship, he wrote: ‘Worship is a submission of all our nature to God. It is the quickening of conscience by his holiness; the nourishment of mind with his truth; the purifying of imagination by his beauty; the opening of the heart to his love; the surrender of will to his purpose – and all this gathered up in adoration.’
Worship saves us from being self-centred and makes us God-centred. You were created to live in a relationship with God. That should be your number one priority. If you put God first in your life all kinds of blessings follow. Because God loves you he warns you of the dangers of disregarding the design for your life.
But what does it mean to lead a God-centred life and what steps do you need to take in order to get there?
Psalm 47:1–7
1 Clap your hands, all you nations;
shout to God with cries of joy.
5 God has ascended amid shouts of joy,
the LORD amid the sounding of trumpets.
6 Sing praises to God, sing praises;
sing praises to our King, sing praises.
7 For God is the King of all the earth;
sing to him a psalm of praise.
Commentary
1. Worship God
You are invited to worship God.
Worship in this psalm sounds quite emotional and noisy: ‘Clap your hands, all you nations; shout to God with cries of joy… God has ascended amid shouts of joy, the LORD amid the sounding of trumpets’ (vv.1,5). It also includes lots of singing (vv.6–7).
There is great exuberance in worship, as adoration and amazement of God bubbles over in extravagant action.
These are all outward ways of expressing your worship of the Lord. Worship includes the use of emotions to express your love and gratitude to God and to bring him honour.
All relationships involve emotions. I don't say to Pippa, 'I love you with my mind'. What I say is, 'I love you with my whole being, my mind, my heart, my will…'
We are good at expressing our emotions in other contexts such as football matches or other sporting events – then why should it be any different in our worship to God?
Prayer
Luke 18:1–30
18 Then Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up. 2 He said: “In a certain town there was a judge... 3 And there was a widow... who kept coming to him with the plea, ‘Grant me justice against my adversary.’
4 “For some time he refused. But finally he said to himself, ‘Even though I don’t fear God or care what people think, 5 yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will see that she gets justice...
7 And will not God bring about justice for his chosen ones, who cry out to him day and night? Will he keep putting them off? 8 I tell you, he will see that they get justice, and quickly. However, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?”
9 To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everyone else, Jesus told this parable: 10 “Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. 11 The Pharisee stood by himself and prayed: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other people—robbers, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector. 12 I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.’
13 “But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, ‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner.’
14 “I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.”
16 ... Jesus called the children to him and said, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these.
18 A certain ruler asked him, “Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?”
22 When Jesus heard this, he said to him, “You still lack one thing. Sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.”
28 Peter said to him, “We have left all we had to follow you!”
29 “Truly I tell you,” Jesus said to them, “no one who has left home or wife or brothers or sisters or parents or children for the sake of the kingdom of God 30 will fail to receive many times as much in this age, and in the age to come eternal life.”
Commentary
2. Pray consistently
The God-centred life is a life of consistent prayer. Jesus taught his disciples to ‘always pray and not give up’ (v.1). You can talk to God not just in church or in set times of prayer, but anywhere and at anytime. I was taught very early in my Christian life to ‘talk as you walk’ through the day.
Jesus tells the parable of the widow and the unjust judge who eventually gives in to her demands in order to stop her bothering him and wearing him out (vv.4–5). Jesus says that if an unjust judge will listen to a widow’s plea, how much more will God listen to those who ‘cry out to him day and night?’ (v.7b). Never give up praying and pray hardest when it is hardest to pray.
3. Humble yourself
Humility is not something that happens to you. It is something that you are supposed to do to yourself. Rather than exalting yourself, you are supposed to ‘humble [your]self’. God promises that he will exalt you (v.14).
If we compare ourselves with others, we may become like the Pharisee, thanking God that we are not like other people – ‘robbers, evildoers, adulterers’ (v.11). The Pharisee was ‘confident of his own righteousness’ (v.9). He fell into the trap of trusting himself. If our lives are truly God-centred (our consciences quickened by his holiness), we compare ourselves with him and all we can say is, ‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner’ (v.13). The truth is that we are all sinners, and we are all in need of God’s mercy.
I find it very easy to read this passage and to thank God that I am not like the Pharisee. But by doing so I fall into the very trap that Jesus is describing – thinking I am more righteous than others, rather than recognising my sin and need for God. This is exactly the sin of the Pharisee.
4. Be childlike
Sometimes the ‘babies’ (v.15), children or young people in a church are described as ‘the church of the future’. But, according to Jesus, they are not just the church of the future, they are the church of today: ‘The kingdom of God belongs to such as these’ (v.16).
Jesus calls us to become like children. He never tells us to be childish (in the sense of being simplistic), but he does tell us to be childlike.
To be childlike is the opposite of being independent and ‘grown up’. Children tend to be open, receptive, trusting, humble, loving and forgiving. The God-centred life is a life of childlike dependence on him.
You become childlike when you show and share your honest feelings, acknowledge how fragile and vulnerable you are and how much you need God and other people.
Children are instinctively driven to explore and discover. They neither dwell in the past nor settle for the present, but look forward – with an unquenchable curiosity – to the future, fuelled by wonder and an immense capacity for enjoyment.
Cultivate this freedom to respond instinctively, like a child, and to feel and express wonder, awe, love and joy – to rush in and eagerly explore, probe and discover things for yourself.
5. Follow Jesus
There is nothing more rewarding than following Jesus. Peter said to Jesus, ‘We have left all we had to follow you!’ (v.28). Jesus replies, ‘I tell you the truth… no one who has left home or wife or brothers or sisters or parents or children for the sake of the kingdom of God will fail to receive many times as much in this age and, in the age to come, eternal life’ (vv.29–30).
Jesus calls the rich young ruler to the God-centred life. He calls him to give up everything else and follow him (v.22). Perhaps Jesus saw in him the potential to be like the apostle Peter, or Matthew, or one of the others who responded positively when Jesus said, ‘follow me’.
The more we accumulate the harder it is to live God-centred lives. The rich young ruler ‘became very sad, because he was very wealthy’ (v.23). It is not impossible for the rich to enter the kingdom of God (v.27), but it is very hard (vv.24–25) – not because the standards are higher, but because the risk appears greater.
In fact, it is impossible for any one of us, including the rich, to enter the kingdom of God on the strength of our own performance (vv.24–25). Yet with God it is possible for anyone, including the rich, to enter the kingdom of God. Jesus said, ‘What is humanly impossible is possible with God’ (v.27). Neither your past failings nor your present circumstances need determine your future. With God all things are possible.
Prayer
Deuteronomy 28:23–47
23 The sky over your head will be bronze, the ground beneath you iron.
47 Because you did not serve the LORD your God joyfully and gladly in the time of prosperity,
Commentary
6. Serve God
In this passage we see the disastrous consequences of not living the God-centred life, not obeying the law, not carefully following his command (v.45) and not serving the Lord (v.47). We also see the disastrous consequences of this within Israel’s own history.
In my own life, I have seen a glimpse of some of the things described, especially in the years before I experienced a relationship with God: ‘The sky over your head will be bronze’ (v.23). I have experienced the sense of what seems to be a great separation from God.
We see how ‘the LORD will give you an anxious mind, eyes weary with longing, and a despairing heart. You will live in constant suspense, filled with dread, both night and day, never sure of your life’ (vv.65–66). ‘Worry is a cycle of inefficient thoughts whirling around a centre of fear’ (Corrie ten Boom). This is the opposite of the peace and joy that Jesus offers.
Of course, sometimes I have failed to serve, obey and follow his command wholeheartedly. The wonderful news of the New Testament is that Jesus has rescued us from the deserved punishment and curses that would have otherwise followed: ‘Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us’ (Galatians 3:13).
Prayer
Pippa adds
Luke 18:1, we read about the parable of the persistent widow. I have looked back over some of the prayers I’ve prayed that haven’t been answered yet. I think I need to redouble my efforts and not give up.
Verse of the Day
Luke 18:13
“God, have mercy on me, a sinner.”
Thought for the Day
Worry is a cycle of inefficient thoughts whirling around a centre of fear.’
– Corrie ten Boom
Action for the Day
Centre your day around God.
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References
Corrie ten Boom, Clippings From My Notebook (Triangle, 1983)
William Temple, Readings in St. John’s Gospel (Macmillian, 1952)
The Bible with Nicky and Pippa Gumbel (commentary formerly known as Bible in One Year) ©Alpha International 2009. All Rights Reserved.
Compilation of daily Bible readings © Hodder & Stoughton Limited 1988. Published by Hodder & Stoughton Limited as the Bible in One Year.
Unless otherwise stated, Scripture quotations taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version Anglicised, Copyright © 1979, 1984, 2011 Biblica, formerly International Bible Society. Used by permission of Hodder & Stoughton Publishers, an Hachette UK company. All rights reserved. ‘NIV’ is a registered trademark of Biblica. UK trademark number 1448790.
Scripture quotations marked (AMP) taken from the Amplified® Bible, Copyright © 1954, 1958, 1962, 1964, 1965, 1987 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. (www.Lockman.org)
Scripture quotations marked MSG are taken from The Message, copyright © 1993, 2002, 2018 by Eugene H. Peterson. Used by permission of NavPress. All rights reserved. Represented by Tyndale House Publishers.