Most of us have been well discipled in consumerism – viewing and approaching life from the perspective of what we can get from it. The implicit assumption is that everything exists for us, and that somehow we’re being deprived when our life and relationships are no longer making us happy. But God tells a very different story – reminding us that all things were created through Christ and for him, that in all things he may have the preeminence.
To be sure, all things is rather inclusive. And this means we must keep Christ first in every aspect and dimension of our lives. It’s not enough to give him lip service on Sunday and then live how we want the rest of the week. Likewise, growing in maturity means we must seek to imitate him in all that we do and not just as we consider the big moral questions.
For instance, this means our marriage is not just about us, or our own happiness as a couple. As such, we must seek to please God in and through our marriage even more than our wife. Of course, this is not disregarding her, but it’s not putting her feelings and desires at the center of our marriage either. Our marriage is for Christ.
The same is true with our sexuality. While it’s tempting to keep this part of our life separate from our life in Christ, this is not something we can faithfully do when Christ is supposed to be the first in all things. Even here we must consider how to embody our sexuality in such a way that gives God the glory, because it is also for Christ.
In the end, we must remove ourselves from the center of even our own life and relationship. All things were made through Christ, and for him, that in all things he might have the preeminence.
Photo by Greg Rakozy on Unsplash
