Christo-Centric

       Only a few hundred years ago, the belief was that the universe revolved around the earth. The earth was at the center of everything that was. This "earth-centric" view had been the dominate platform of study for every field of science that sprung forward from it. As understanding and knowledge marched forward, there came with it unspoken incongruences in this supposed foundational "truth". The equations did not compute as they should, the solutions were inconsistent and irregular every time that they were figured and re-figured. The higher intelligence were baffled, yet remained persistent in their quest to make the solutions agree with the formulas they had concocted. Truth was waiting patiently.
       Someone was finally ready to step out and suggest that the solution was not the issue. It was the formula itself! Digging deeper, this same scientist discovered that a once supposed truth was really no truth at all. It was, in fact, false. He suggested a new foundation from which to formulate equations that would successively produce accurate and consistent solutions. He proposed that the earth was not the center of the universe at all. Provocatively, he postulated it was actually spinning around the sun (thus referring to our solar system as "helio-centric"). That the earth was subject to a power greater than itself!
       One would imagine that the scientific community would have met this discovery with immediate praise and applause. It did not. Rather it shunned the notion and ostracized any who would dare accept it. They guarded the "earth-centric" principle with avaricious hearts, knowing that it would cause them embarrassment and humiliation if it were later found to be true. Yet the truth eventually saw its own satisfaction. Now those who donned a faulty premise as their foundation became the object of ridicule for every generation that followed.
       When a new saint is born into the "family" and has repented of their previous lifestyle that was admittedly "self-centered", how long does it take before they embrace a new kind of "self-centric" lifestyle similar to the old? Only now it has come under the guise of Christianity. Sure, some of the old bad habits were dismissed at conversion, but how often do we see them exchanged for more "socially acceptable" ones? The shameful probability of why this occurs, however, rests within their biblical mentors. The passage rings strongly in the ear, "Woe to you...For you travel across sea and land to make a single proselyte, and when he becomes a proselyte, you make him twice as much a child of hell as yourselves."
       Furthermore, the foundation for the formula that guides our lives must be changed. To be clear, it must not only be changed in admission or word alone, but also in practice and application. It is never sufficient to build a platform if one never stands on it. So, our calculations for future life application and understanding must yield to the "Christo-centric" principle. From the illustration used earlier, it is irrefutably clear that we are not the center from which all else revolves. "The heavens declare His handiwork" and "the earth is His footstool" and again, "When I look at the heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is man that you are mindful of him, and the son of man that you care for him?"
       Conversion must be two things (at least): Progressive and Total. Conversion must be first progressive because just as some equations have to be transferred bits at a time, so must aspects of the human equation. "...be transformed by the renewing of your mind" illustrates this application. Finally, conversion must be ultimately total. For something (or someone) to be converted, it must be taken out of the formula it was in and transferred into a whole new system. This is a readily understood principle in almost every other arena of human understanding. Yet it is so difficult when it demands that one casts aside the "self-centric" in order to put on the "Christo-centric" garment.
       "May we know what this new teaching is that you are presenting? For you bring some strange things to our ears. We wish to know therefore what these things means." Our generation is begging this same question, do we still have a valid answer that is consistent and accurate with the answer given these men in the book of Acts?
       We must safeguard our "Christo-centric" view and lifestyle. It must be seen. It must be heard. it must be felt.