Prepositional Spirituality #6 – Christ beyond You
One way our Christian spirituality can be understood and experienced is through prepositions:
• Christ is for you – he poured out his life for you.
• Christ is with you – he walks alongside you.
• Christ is in you – he lives inside you.
• Christ is through you – he lives his life through you.
• Christ is among you – he is present among his gathered people.
Christ is also beyond you. The Christian life doesn’t stop with me or you. Christ’s mission doesn’t stop with me or you. Paul always aimed to talk about Christ “in the regions beyond” (2 Corinthians 10:16). He was always on the move.
Our life and mission go beyond us to those whom God loves – our families, our coworkers, our sphere of influence, our regions, our countries, our world. “For God so loved the world” (John 3:16).
God invites us to participate with him in his mission: “Ask me, [pray!] and I will make the nations your inheritance, the ends of the earth your possession” (Psalm 2:8). “Therefore go and make disciples of all nations” (Matthew 28:19).
A world of people need Jesus. As Edward Lawlor said, “If God’s love is for anybody anywhere, it’s for everybody everywhere.”
History can be told from many perspectives – politics, leaders, geography, time periods, religions, fields, and so on.
My favorite is to understand history from God’s perspective. How does God view all history from his eternal, redemptive plan as he is building his Church and establishing his Kingdom? It began in eternity past, runs through time and history, and extends into eternity future.
As the news covers the latest tragedies and conflicts, opinions and ideas, personalities and events, how often does Christ’s Church become the focus, except when it’s flawed leaders receive undue attention? Otherwise, the Church is often overlooked.
But that’s not God’s perspective. Jesus started one organization – the Church. “Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her” (Ephesians 5:25).
The Church is often working, helping, serving unseen, behind the scenes doing justice, loving mercy, leading people to faith, and raising up a new generation of Christ followers. History, God’s story, is being written from his perspective.
Christ is working for us and with us and in us and through us and among us to accomplish something greater beyond us.
~ Pastor Dave
