The Better Center

Written about two weeks ago. Sadly, the streets are coating with snow and ice, so it wouldn’t be very feasible to go longboarding or blading now!

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Yesterday afternoon I spent an hour or so cruising around the Fargo-Moorhead area with a few people from MSUM, they on their longboards and I on my rollerblades. Coty, one of the guys who was with, and who I have had a couple conversations about Christianity with, asked me midway through the ride, “Hey. You’ve read the whole Bible, right?” When I nodded in affirmative, he asked, “What does it say about weed?”

I answered with something about us being commanded to obey governing authorities and how it isn’t wise to dabble with something that can take you captive and enslave you to itself. He nodded and was quiet, letting the conversation drift to different subjects as we hiked back up a hill that we’d ridden down.  We had a bit more conversation on spiritual matters through the rest of the ride, but that first question and my answer illustrates a point that’s been much on my mind in the last few days.

I answered Coty biblically. I could have cited verses to him to confirm my point. I answered biblically, but in retrospect, not rightly. You wonder at that, I suppose; how can a biblical answer not be right? As I look back upon the conversation I see this; my answers were law and not grace. They were Bible, but not Christ; addressing a symptom but not the heart.

As Christians, our issue is not first nor mainly a person’s action. That is a problem, yes, but our main concern must first be the state of their heart, for from the heart flows all manner of wickedness and idolatry. Unless the source of a spring in changed, how can it give anything but salt water? To try to convert a fruitless tree into one that produces good fruit will and cannot happen by telling the tree what good fruit is. It needs to be grafted in and transformed into a whole new creation in order for to remove the corruption at its core. Coty’s problem isn’t that he does drugs or any other thing that may be outwardly sinful. Not ultimately. It’s the fact that his heart is held captive by all sorts of idols and he is completely blind to the fact.

It will do little good in spreading the gospel if all we spout is what men and women aught to do. People don’t need to hear what Christianity is about; they need to taste and see the sweetness of Christ. Once they know him, the Christianity and morality that has seemed so foolish will become a delight. In Psalm 16 the psalmist rejoices, saying, “in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.” Note well those two adjectives, fullness and forevermore. What a contrast to the fleeting spark of the pleasures found in this world! In Christ there is a full joy and everlasting pleasure, a joy and pleasure that make all the greatest things of this world seem like old rags in comparison. This is what this generation of mine who seek far and wide for happiness and fulfillment need to hear. Not more ‘moral therapeutic deism’  that tells them to do good things so that they will feel good and God will love them. The gospel is a massive contrast to such foolishness. It declares, “You, oh man, are hopelessly lost if left to your self, but God, being rich in mercy and the love with which he loved us, offers not only freedom and forgiveness, but every spiritual blessing, IN CHRIST!” We must let him and him alone be the center of our teaching.

God, in his sovereign grace, will use what I said to good effect, but it would have been much more accurate and right to respond to Coty’s question by exulting in how much greater Christ is than any drug. When we proclaim law and what people aught to do, they can simply declare, “Oh, that’s good for you, but that’s not what I believe.” But when men and women of the earth have their idols stripped bare and placed in stark contrast before the glory of Christ, they are forced to either accept him as Lord or flee. Oh that I would become better at proclaiming our Lord in such a way that people see him for all that he is!

I urge you, my friends, when you speak let Christ be the central character of every sentence. Show forth his all-surpassing greatness and let the power of who he is bring the dead to life and the blind to see. There is a place for the law in our gospel, yes, but even that law is made to draw people to their savior, for it is only in him that they will find life.

Join me in speaking and praying, with Christ in every note of our voice, and trust that the Lord will do his mighty work.

In Christ,

Benjamin