A Christ-Centered 2015

Another year is slipping by. It has been a hard year for many people. Life deals out many hard blows. The only constant seems to have been change. Where is the hope that we want a New Year to bring? Circumstances may bring us brief happiness, but circumstances can change in the blink of an eye. Yet, in the midst of a fast-changing world, there are constants.

God’s covenant love to us as expressed in Christ does not fade, spoil or die. Theologies come and go with the fashions of current beliefs. Concepts and ideas have their day and then fade like the flowers at the end of their season. Yet the love of Jesus for each one of us continues to draw each one of us ever closer to him, for it is Jesus who gives us life in all its fulness.

Life as Christians is not really about what and how we believe; nor is it really about what and how we practise belief. Life as Christians is about knowing Christ. Knowing him in intimacy. Knowing him in ever-increasing depth.

May our lives together in City Gates Baptist Church in Edinburgh – or wherever we are in the world – know the presence and power of Christ in our midst so that lives may be transformed and that Christ may draw people to himself. May we have a truly Christ-centered year.

The Queen so eloquently testified to Christ as she spoke in her Christmas message. May every day of this coming year be a year of powerful testimony to the presence and power of Christ at work in our midst – wherever we are. It really, really is all about Christ.