1 Corinthians 1:24
(HCSB) Yet to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ is God’s power and God’s wisdom,
(ICB) But Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God to those people God has called – Jews and Greeks.
When I say the name “Caterpillar,” what comes to your mind? For some of you, it might remind you of an insect. The name “Caterpillar” brings to my mind huge earth-moving equipment, bulldozers, backhoes, track-holes, and such. I envision monstrous machines with seemingly limitless power to override gravity and push dirt around, shaping it for construction projects. Caterpillar is not the name of the equipment itself; those tools have names to describe what they do. Caterpillar is the name of the company that makes the machines. Caterpillar is much more than a machine; it is a whole organization, a successful international business. Caterpillar designs machines to meet a need. It builds them, maintains them, supplies parts, and much more.
We kind of do the same thing with the word “Christ.” For the early and mid-part of my life as a Believer, I understood the word as another name for Jesus. The two words were interchangeable. Jesus Christ is the same as George Frederick, my name. I’ll answer to either or both. The two names really mean nothing in our language. I got my name from my two grandfathers, George Baldwin and Fred Saulsberry. For that, I am immensely proud. But there is little to no meaning beyond that.
Not so with the word Christ. Yes, it is the name of Jesus. It is also a title he holds. But it also has an even broader significance. As important as both the name and title are, they refer to something that happened in the past. They identify a unique person and His unique work. I praise God for that work; I have eternal life because of that work. I also have a relationship with Almighty God as a result of that work.
This is where you need to pay attention. That word, “Christ,” also defines what that new life is to be about. It clarifies what God was giving me when He gave me that New Life. It carries my place in the Biblical narrative of displaying God’s redemptive purpose throughout history and history yet to be written.
My life, and each believer’s life, is significant only as it relates to the word “Christ.” We have no significant importance or usefulness apart from living out the heritage and calling identified in that name.
When someone ask you if you are a Christian and you respond in the affirmative, you are announcing that you have met Jesus, believe what he said about himself and what is written in the Bible about him and that you have joined him in what he came to do: to be a part of the continuing drama of God’s redemptive work to create for Himself a family of people fully given to obeying His every wish.
Sounds overwhelming. And it is. But the word “Christ” also carries something else, the promise of God. God will absolutely be successful in His work to gather each desiring human into HIs family. Those who take the “Christ” seriously will absolutely live lives of eternal significance and productivity. Everything about us, the good, the bad, the ugly, and the beautiful, will all be used to complete His “Christ” work. You and I will never lack anything needed to fulfill our “Christ” life. Nothing. We cannot fail. We can falter, however. We will each, by our own choice, cower from, launch toward, or meander past the Kingdom opportunities that arise before us, as we traverse through our days.
It is the dynamic of our discerning and leaning into the Christ activities of God’s Kingdom coming that we discover a constant flow of joy and peace. It is that leaning, that desire of heart that tunes our sensitivities from pursuing self to pursuing God.
The most powerful action of Christ in our lives is to turn our minds from self to service to God’s creation.
Photo – One of the boxes I have made.
Baldwin Heirlooms 