Centered

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A few of us may remember back when the most popular show on TV was The Waltons, a show about the struggles and the joys of a mountain family trying to get through the depression era. There is one scene where John Boy is reminded by his father to “remember who you are; remember your
brothers and sisters are watching you.” It is a moment when John Boy is reminded to stay centered, to stay grounded.

Most of us have heard someone point out the need to be grounded or centered. Most people don’t question what this means, but somehow we all seem to know. Just telling someone to come back to center can have a tremendous calming effect.

Imagine a tightrope walker, walking along a tightrope. How important is it that he stays centered in his mind and balance? Extremely. Life or death! Right? He uses a long pole to help his balance. The
pole tips to one side, and he along with it. Things are tense for a while, but somehow he manages to
recover. He focuses on returning to center. Staying centered is imperative.

Same thing with a bicycle or skis. You have to find your center of gravity and find your comfort within that center. The problem for many people is they have never discovered that core center in the first place. We live in a world that pulls us from extreme side to extreme side and there are many who have the wrong center.

Back in the late 70’s, there was a toy that was heavily commercialized with this jingle, “Weebles
wobble but they don’t fall down.” It didn’t matter how much we tried to knock them down, they
bounced right back up. They have such a positive center they effortlessly go right back to it.

Being centered means having a reference point, a place to come back to when life and emotions and stress push you off balance.It doesn’t mean we are always there. It means we always know where to go back to, kind of like knowing where your home is. People who lose their center or
are not familiar with their center can find themselves all over the map without a clear heading. Coming back to center can help us get back to what we have temporarily lost.
 

“We are hard pressed, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed” (I Corinthians 4:8).

When you’re centered, you’re not easily influenced away from your purpose or goals. Those who are grounded allow life’s small mishaps to roll off their shoulders. For example, if someone cuts them off in traffic, they may give a shoulder shrug, and think, "Oh, well, they must be in a hurry." Chances are, they won’t become overwhelmed by, or reactive to, the incident.

Even if people see you as a grounded person, there may be times when you feel “out of sorts,” or stressed. However, there are different types of exercises you can do to help you return back to center, including: breathing exercises, counting to ten, or in our case, time spent in prayer and meditating on the Word.

God was also concerned about us staying centered. In the Book of Galatians, Paul reminds the churches to stay centered in Christ through the gospel and in our relationships. Throughout the
book, he continuously calls us back to center in order to fight off the temptation to lose our faith
and freedom in Christ.

"Centered" is what we’re calling our summer sermon series on the Book of Galatians. Pauls' letter is a call to center our lives on Jesus and the freedom we now have through in His grace. The good news of God's rescue through Jesus should be the center of who we are and how we live. There is tremendous freedom and joy when we have our lives centered correctly.

Upcoming Sermon Series:
Jun 9 God Centered Gal 1:1–24
Jun 16 Unity Centered Gal 2:1–10
Jun 23 Community Centered Gal 2:11–21
Jun 30 Christ Centered Gal 3:1–14


Ron Otto, Preaching Minister at Lincoln Christian Church
 

 

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