Vol 2:27 Being in Mission: Living Centered in Jesus – Loving God with all our strength

This is the fifth installment of six focusing on living centered in Jesus. As previously blogged, I stated that “to be missional is to have Christ Jesus as the center of our purpose, focus, and direction (heart), to have Jesus as the center of our spirituality and meaning making in our lives (soul), to have Jesus as the center of all our living and in all what we do (strength), and to have Jesus as the center for our thinking and speaking (mind).”

To be missional is to have Christ Jesus as the center of all our living and in all we do.

I relate this perspective to loving God with all our strength.

It always amazes me that in North America, especially in the United States, that so many of us express belief in God, even Jesus Christ, but Jesus seems to have little impact on the way we live. In fact, it seems that we live in ways that expresses the notion that Jesus may serve American ideals more so than our ideals being brought under the lordship of Jesus Christ. Allegiance to the American empire seems to be the prioritizing allegiance. Loving God with all our strength challenges this state of affairs.

One thing that keeps me from becoming an American citizen – I live here as a permanent resident – is the oath of allegiance that every new citizen needs to take. I know that it relates to temporal matters, but I cannot in all good conscience express denouncing all other allegiances in order to give allegiance to the United States. All other allegiances, even my allegiance to Canada (I am a Canadian citizen), is secondary to my allegiance to Christ Jesus and his reign.

So in stating this, my confession is that all my desires, my choices, my living, my actions – my loving God with all my strength – grow out of centering my life in Jesus Christ and his Lordship. I confess I do not always get this right – at times I live in ways which displace my allegiance to Christ as the first and foremost allegiance in my life, but yet, as I grow as a follower, disciple, and worshiper of Jesus Christ, I actively seek to realign and reorient my life around living life centered in Jesus Christ.

Giving allegiance, rather than mere assent or belief to Christ, reframes every aspect of my life. It calls into question all that I do, all that I am, all that I hope for, plan for, seek to accomplish. It calls me to examine for what reason I do or for how I am all aspects of my life. I have to admit it is easy in our American lifestyle to relegate Jesus to Sundays, or to times of need – in order to pray for help. Yet, to have every aspect of my life shaped by giving allegiance and worship to him alone, is to find ways of keeping not only my life centered in him, but for him to be the primary focus in all I am and do.

Living in Christ, loving God with all my strength, calls for me to be intentional about my living, my actions; it provides a different perspective for living out my life. It is not primarily about my comfort, my success, my advancement – but rather it is about giving expression and giving presence – through acting and being – to the purposes of God in the world.

I guess what I am getting around to is asking myself the question as I begin my day everyday or examine my actions at the end of the day – is whether I am intent on living my life in such a way that it is not Roland that is magnified, but rather God’s purposes, God’s redemptive mission is being manifest – in fact God is being magnified.

What this requires of me – though I do not always do it well or with consistency – is to engage in a daily office of beginning my day centering myself in Jesus Christ and throughout my day seeking to realign myself to Jesus and his ways. This takes intentionality, this takes developing practices which keep my life focused on Christ, open to the Spirit of God, keeping myself attuned to God.

These practices include beginning my day reading Scripture, meditating and praying. I often use an online resource developed by Irish Jesuits entitled sacred space at www.sacredspace.ie . I engage in reading and spiritual conversation which keeps me attuned to God and God’s purposes. I also pray, read Scripture at times throughout the day – often linked with times of confession in order to realign myself to God’s purposes.

I find that not only does this centering myself in Christ transform my attitude and perspective during the day – but also shapes the way I am and the way I act – enabling me to love the Lord my God with all my strength.