The Four Cs of My Christian Walk
Blog / Produced by The High Calling
The Four Cs of my Christian Walk begin with Christ. He is the Savior I acknowledge, and all things depend upon that decision. He is the mindset I live in. And in Him I can do all things.
The second C is concentration on scripture: those times I go beyond mere thinking as I read the Bible to actually connect with the message. So many times, I read the Bible just passing through—as with those continuing lists of names in I Chronicles 6. Then in 2 Chronicles 6, I am swallowed:
There is the impact: 2 Chronicles 6:29-30. I concentrate and catch what the words are saying. I have need. I have known hurt and wounding. I stretch forth my hands. God, you hear me from heaven where you live. Forgive me, heal me, hear my supplication. Through scripture, there comes an alignment between my situation and God. Connection is there. I pay attention. I claim what scripture says. I think through what it means until I understand. I stand on it. Concentration is the vehicle for that state of being in Him.
The third C is clarity. He is the way. The truth. The light. The world offers so many versions of life’s meaning. So many voices discredit God’s authority . . . scripture’s authority. Books discredit Christ’s life, trying to cast doubt. But in the Bible’s clarity, Jesus is the door—the only door—and I clearly understand my approach to God. In the light, the shadows don’t have a chance.
My fourth C is certainty. This I know: Jesus Christ is Lord. In the Bible, I read how faith delivers God’s people. When I am discouraged over my own shortcomings, when I am in over my head—which I often am, because contemporary life is complicated, full of tedious details and busy work—biblical characters guide me. The certainty of Joseph’s dreams, despite his years in prison. The lessons of Job’s life. Jonah, tumbling with every swim in another direction. Sometimes I am there with him. But Christ is. Scriptures are. I am confronted by Christ’s being, which is my being. I am certain to arrive on the shore of my destination.
The second C is concentration on scripture: those times I go beyond mere thinking as I read the Bible to actually connect with the message. So many times, I read the Bible just passing through—as with those continuing lists of names in I Chronicles 6. Then in 2 Chronicles 6, I am swallowed:
“Whatever prayer or supplication be made by any man . . . when every one knows his own sore and his own grief, and shall spread forth his hands in his house, Then you will hear us from heaven your dwelling place, and forgive and give us according to our ways, for you know our hearts . . .”
There is the impact: 2 Chronicles 6:29-30. I concentrate and catch what the words are saying. I have need. I have known hurt and wounding. I stretch forth my hands. God, you hear me from heaven where you live. Forgive me, heal me, hear my supplication. Through scripture, there comes an alignment between my situation and God. Connection is there. I pay attention. I claim what scripture says. I think through what it means until I understand. I stand on it. Concentration is the vehicle for that state of being in Him.
The third C is clarity. He is the way. The truth. The light. The world offers so many versions of life’s meaning. So many voices discredit God’s authority . . . scripture’s authority. Books discredit Christ’s life, trying to cast doubt. But in the Bible’s clarity, Jesus is the door—the only door—and I clearly understand my approach to God. In the light, the shadows don’t have a chance.
My fourth C is certainty. This I know: Jesus Christ is Lord. In the Bible, I read how faith delivers God’s people. When I am discouraged over my own shortcomings, when I am in over my head—which I often am, because contemporary life is complicated, full of tedious details and busy work—biblical characters guide me. The certainty of Joseph’s dreams, despite his years in prison. The lessons of Job’s life. Jonah, tumbling with every swim in another direction. Sometimes I am there with him. But Christ is. Scriptures are. I am confronted by Christ’s being, which is my being. I am certain to arrive on the shore of my destination.
