For I determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified. (1 Corinthians 2:2, NKJV).
Radical Devotion
Life would be much simpler, in my opinion, if we had less to think about and less things we were expected to know. As an aging technician, I find this to be especially true in the realm of knowledge that the world deems valuable.
I am pretty convinced though, that no one on his or her death bed is going to be concerned about the true value of Pi, or Differential Equations, Nuclear Physics, Biochemical formulation or detailed mapping of the Human Genome. Nor will he or she kick themselves for not getting that last post-graduate degree, or spending more time at work.
And if it's true that "you're born, you live and you die" and thereafter blink out of existence, effectively erased from time and space, then LIFE IS A MONSTROUS JOKE! It's an old beer commercial - "grab all the gusto you can!"
In fact, I concluded very early in life, about age 9 I think, that if what I had experienced up until that point was all there is, and if all that was before me was just more of the same or worse, well then, I was going to simply "live fast and die young." The prospect of tediously living out my daily life acquiring goods and relationships, avoiding pain, and trying not to die for as long as possible only to eventually lose everything anyway was just too ridiculous for my tiny 9-year old mind to comprehend.
I have since heard many supposed consolations from supposedly wiser and more nuanced people than me. People who don't see things in such simplistic stark terms. "Of course you live on," I have been told, "in loved one's minds and memories." Ewww! That's supposed to be comforting! "You leave footprints in the sands of time; you make your mark in the world." My response: so do dogs. Not helping.
Face it, people! Nothing means anything if YOU (well, me in this case) don't last forever. You can cover that sad, sad story with as many pretty and distracting book covers as you want, but how does that possibly make what happens after you turn the last page any less meaningless in the end? There is not enough Prozac on the planet to convince me otherwise.
The Apostle Paul recognized that about life without God. As he wrote long ago:
"Now if Christ is preached that He has been raised from the dead, how do some among you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ is not risen. And if Christ is not risen, then our preaching is empty and your faith is also empty. Yes, and we are found false witnesses of God, because we have testified of God that He raised up Christ, whom He did not raise up--if in fact the dead do not rise. For if the dead do not rise, then Christ is not risen. And if Christ is not risen, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins! Then also those who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men the most pitiable." (1 Corinthians 15:12-19, NKJV).
The converse to that irrefutable logic is the focus verse above. If God exists (impossible to logically or honestly think otherwise), and if He sent His Son to redeem us (the empty tomb, changed lives, all of human history before and since ample evidentiary proof), then Christ is THE MOST IMPORTANT FACT. No other data point comes close in significance. Nothing. Zip. Zero.
Consequently, exclusive focus on knowing Him is THE MOST IMPORTANT pursuit.
This is not to say anything about the effort, complexity, comprehensiveness, or broadness of that field of study and devotion. In fact, knowing Jesus Christ and Him crucified encompasses everything else of any significance that can possibly be known. He is the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. He is the express image of the God. In Him all things exist and are maintained. Knowing Him IS eternal life.
Chew on these then:
You will show me the path of life; In Your presence is fullness of joy; At Your right hand are pleasures forevermore. (Psalms 16:11, NKJV).
And He put all things under His feet, and gave Him to be head over all things to the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all. (Ephesians 1:22, 23, NKJV).
For it pleased the Father that in Him all the fullness should dwell, (Colossians 1:19, NKJV).
For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily; (Colossians 2:9, NKJV).
Radical devotion to Jesus Christ is the diametric opposite of narrow-mindedness. It is, in fact, so broad a scope of knowledge that it encompasses everything you could possibly know, think, imagine or feel.
Radical Devotion
Life would be much simpler, in my opinion, if we had less to think about and less things we were expected to know. As an aging technician, I find this to be especially true in the realm of knowledge that the world deems valuable.
I am pretty convinced though, that no one on his or her death bed is going to be concerned about the true value of Pi, or Differential Equations, Nuclear Physics, Biochemical formulation or detailed mapping of the Human Genome. Nor will he or she kick themselves for not getting that last post-graduate degree, or spending more time at work.
And if it's true that "you're born, you live and you die" and thereafter blink out of existence, effectively erased from time and space, then LIFE IS A MONSTROUS JOKE! It's an old beer commercial - "grab all the gusto you can!"
In fact, I concluded very early in life, about age 9 I think, that if what I had experienced up until that point was all there is, and if all that was before me was just more of the same or worse, well then, I was going to simply "live fast and die young." The prospect of tediously living out my daily life acquiring goods and relationships, avoiding pain, and trying not to die for as long as possible only to eventually lose everything anyway was just too ridiculous for my tiny 9-year old mind to comprehend.
I have since heard many supposed consolations from supposedly wiser and more nuanced people than me. People who don't see things in such simplistic stark terms. "Of course you live on," I have been told, "in loved one's minds and memories." Ewww! That's supposed to be comforting! "You leave footprints in the sands of time; you make your mark in the world." My response: so do dogs. Not helping.
Face it, people! Nothing means anything if YOU (well, me in this case) don't last forever. You can cover that sad, sad story with as many pretty and distracting book covers as you want, but how does that possibly make what happens after you turn the last page any less meaningless in the end? There is not enough Prozac on the planet to convince me otherwise.
The Apostle Paul recognized that about life without God. As he wrote long ago:
"Now if Christ is preached that He has been raised from the dead, how do some among you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ is not risen. And if Christ is not risen, then our preaching is empty and your faith is also empty. Yes, and we are found false witnesses of God, because we have testified of God that He raised up Christ, whom He did not raise up--if in fact the dead do not rise. For if the dead do not rise, then Christ is not risen. And if Christ is not risen, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins! Then also those who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men the most pitiable." (1 Corinthians 15:12-19, NKJV).
The converse to that irrefutable logic is the focus verse above. If God exists (impossible to logically or honestly think otherwise), and if He sent His Son to redeem us (the empty tomb, changed lives, all of human history before and since ample evidentiary proof), then Christ is THE MOST IMPORTANT FACT. No other data point comes close in significance. Nothing. Zip. Zero.
Consequently, exclusive focus on knowing Him is THE MOST IMPORTANT pursuit.
This is not to say anything about the effort, complexity, comprehensiveness, or broadness of that field of study and devotion. In fact, knowing Jesus Christ and Him crucified encompasses everything else of any significance that can possibly be known. He is the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. He is the express image of the God. In Him all things exist and are maintained. Knowing Him IS eternal life.
Chew on these then:
You will show me the path of life; In Your presence is fullness of joy; At Your right hand are pleasures forevermore. (Psalms 16:11, NKJV).
And He put all things under His feet, and gave Him to be head over all things to the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all. (Ephesians 1:22, 23, NKJV).
For it pleased the Father that in Him all the fullness should dwell, (Colossians 1:19, NKJV).
For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily; (Colossians 2:9, NKJV).
Radical devotion to Jesus Christ is the diametric opposite of narrow-mindedness. It is, in fact, so broad a scope of knowledge that it encompasses everything you could possibly know, think, imagine or feel.
