Living and Teaching a Christ-Centered Life

How many of us truly live a Christ-centered life? And how do we teach this to our children? I know that I sometimes get lost in the hectic schedule of the everyday enough that I don't really allow Christ to be the center of my life. I sometimes lose valuable teaching opportunities with my children as well as faith moments for myself because my focus on Christ isn't always there.

Remember Jesus' and the disciples' hectic schedules in Matthew, chapter fourteen? After hearing that John the Baptist was beheaded and trying to get some time to Himself, Jesus put aside Himself. He heard and felt compassion on the crowd and fed the five thousand. Then, He put the disciples in a boat so that He could go by Himself to a mountain and pray. Now, normally a boat ride might be a peaceful ending to a very hectic day; however, with the winds picking up and the storm coming, the disciples had another life situation to handle. How wonderful it is to read the next verse and know that Jesus not only saw the winds swirling around them, but He came out on the water to them. But isn't it just like us, that the disciples didn't immediately see Jesus, but they were terrified and thought He was a ghost? We get so caught up in circumstance of the moment that we don't often see Jesus in that storm.

Once Jesus had reached out to them and let them know it was Him, Peter said, “Lord, if it's you, tell me to come to You on the water.” What a beautiful desire Peter had to be with Jesus, to see Him in whatever circumstance. But just like many of us, Peter lost his focus on Jesus and started to sink. As Peter cried out to Him, Jesus immediately took Peter's hand and got him to safety. Isn't it good to know that Jesus is always there to guide us and help us in our times of need?

We can learn from these verses. We can remember that in any circumstance or busyness of our lives, we can let our focus be on Jesus, let Him be our motivation and it will guide us not only through the storms, but in our desire to walk through it with a godly attitude. And when we do lose our focus, we don't have to be discouraged because we can always turn to Jesus first and He will be there in our times of need.

How can we translate this Christ-centered life to our children? My children are almost five and six years old, so their lives are not wrought with circumstances we would consider the “storms of life” but to them, they are most assuredly storms, and often loud ones. Through this illustration of Jesus' and the disciples' lives, we can help even our little ones learn what it is to rely on Jesus. When my daughter is scared at night because of a bad dream, we turn to Jesus to calm her fears. When my son trips and falls and scrapes his knees, we turn to Jesus to help him heal quickly and help his pain subside. When my children get older and have to deal with peers in negative circumstances, I hope to be able to pray with them, not just about the situation and about the peers involved, but also pray about their own attitudes toward the people and situations.

If we teach them throughout their lives to turn to Jesus in every circumstance, to turn to Him first and to have Him be their motivation and focus, we will have given them the most valuable tool of their lives. We will have given a great illustration to them as parents in how to parent and raise godly children.

Lori's Bio

Lori has been writing the Kiddie Korner for HeartBeat the Magazine for over a year and is working on her first novel. She is currently living in the Lexington , Kentucky area with her husband, Joel, and their two children, Rachel and Benjamin. In her spare time, she enjoys scrapbooking, crocheting and singing with her husband at church. This past year Lori decided, at the Lord's urging, to use her passion for crocheting and teaching to start a Prayer Shawl Ministry at her church. Whether it's a prayer shawl she crochets, a song she sings or an article she writes, it is Lori's continual hope that all will glorify God and minister His love and words to those who receive them.

You may contact Lori at: braswellfamily@gmail.com