My Prophet, Priest, and King
My Lord, my Life, my Way, my End
Accept the praise I bring.
Christ must have first place in the church (v. 18). It is never my church or our church; it is always His church. Do church decisions follow His agenda? Does your giving to support Christ’s mission through the church reflect Christ is everything to you? Are you living within the equipping relationships of the church so that you will remain “grounded and steadfast in the faith” (v. 23)?
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Christ must have first place in all of life—in and out of the church. In the same issue a newspaper reported that more people go to church in South Carolina than any other state and also carried the news of a woman raped on a Charleston street while people ignored her screams. The preeminence of Christ is not a religious concept; it applies to all things.
When Christ is everything to us, we find the power to go through suffering in the name of Christ, “completing in my flesh what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions for His body” (v. 24). Browning said it well:
I tread no path in life to Him unknown
I lift no burden, bear no pain, alone.
When Christ is everything to us, selfishness is replaced with sacrificial service, and we faithfully “proclaim Him, warning and teaching everyone with all wisdom, so that we may present everyone mature in Christ” (v. 28). (Bill Whittaker)
