Pathways Press.com

Written by Bryan O’Keefe, a contemporary lawyer and writer. The message was inspired by a sermon “The Gospel for the Pagan” given in 2013 by Tim Keller (1950-2023), an American pastor, speaker, and author.

Everybody is living for something. For many people that is their job or career. For other people it is achievement and success — getting the A on the test, having to be the best at whatever you do. For others, they are living for money, houses, cars, boats, and other types of materialistic goods. For others, they are living for romance or sex. For others, they are living for their spouses, their children, their pets, their parents. For others, it is political or social causes, on the left or the right. Anybody who tries to deny that they are living for something else isn’t being honest with themselves. All of these things can be good things, don’t get me wrong. But the problem is that when we live for these things, we turn good things into ultimate things. And these ultimate things become idols that end up enslaving us and driving us… Christianity is radically different. When you make Christ the center of your identity, and not these earthly idols, you find that there is a God who fully satisfies you and always forgives you. And you aren’t living life based on your own achievements but what has already been done for you through Christ and the grace that is freely available to anybody who has faith in him. This transformed my entire outlook on life and made me happier, more content, filled with more gratitude, and better able to deal with the inevitable ups and downs that face me everyday. This is the very heart of Christianity, not just following a bunch of rules in the hope of “earning” your own salvation.

And he [Jesus] is before all things, and in him all things hold,together. [Colossians 1:17]

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