Jesus, Be The Centre

People used to believe that the sun and all the planets revolved around the earth. From where the

naked eye could view the universe, standing on this fragile planet, it seemed that Earth was huge and that all the stars, tiny points of light in the distance, were very small, inferior in fact to planet earth.

The sun was thought to be the largest star. It was thought to exist solely to give us heat and energy. It was understood that the sun must be very large, larger perhaps than Earth itself, but nevertheless, no matter how big the sun was, it revolved around us.

We have learned a lot through science. Galileo, a devout Christian, helped to bring us to a clearer

understanding of things. All the planets revolve around the sun, in fact. The planet we call home is but one of a family of planets.

It was terribly humbling for people back in Galileo’s time to realize that their planet was not the centre of the universe. People reacted violently. Galileo was thrown in jail. How dare he suggest that God had not made our home planet the exact centre of everything created?

When I was a child, I believed that all the world

existed in relationship to me. People lived in Russia somehow because they had some connection to me. The fact that this made no sense didn’t matter at all to me. One night I lay in my bed and realized for the first time that one day I would die.

I was nine and had been told that men lived to be 75

years old. I thought to myself, “I only have 66 years left to live. How will life exist after me? How will the world get along without me? What purpose will it have without me? That just can’t be”

Webster Dictionary defines the word“Centre as a place or point at which activity is concentrated or toward”. Well, it’s painful to realize that we are not the centre of the universe, but it has to happen in order for us to mature. Although we would like to be the centre of the universe, we are not. That’s terribly humbling. That something else - not us - might be the centre of things, can be hard to swallow.

So, you see, the earth is not the centre of the universe. Science has proven it. And we ourselves

are not the centre of existence. God’s Word let’s us in on that one.

I don’t know what are the things in your life that compete for your time and energy, that demand front and centre seats in your lives. Often it’s things that we give permission to. TV, I’ve noticed, is terribly, terribly important to a lot of people. Being entertained is considered a right in our culture. Some peoples’ lives revolve around watching their favorite shows, living vicariously through TV characters and their experiences. TV is the centre of some peoples’ lives.

Sometimes life revolves around money and its worries, or taking care of the family. This can happen very easily. People we love have needs and problems and we want to help. To make a difference, to lighten the load of people.

Sometimes people live for their work. The most important thing in life is that I do my job well.

For such folk, job performance, or their perception of how they’re doing matters the most. We ask ourselves continually, “How am I doin’?”. Am I doing as well as so and so? What’s wrong with me that I am not as efficient of as creative or as attractive as so and so?

Whatever it may be that your life revolves around, I want to suggest that it pales in comparison to God’s intention for each of us. God knows that the things I’ve described are important. He would never belittle them. I don’t believe he would criticize us harshly for any of it. He simply wants us to understand that a) there’s something more important and b) when we commit to that thing which is more important, He will take care of the rest.

Matthew 6:25 "Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? 26 Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them.31 So do not worry, saying, ’What shall we eat?’ or ’What shall we drink?’ or ’What shall we wear?’ 32 For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them.33 But seek first his kingdom and his