Welcome to another day the Lord has made that we should rejoice and be glad in. (Psalms 118:24)

Today we’ll focus on revolving around the Son.

In today’s scripture, Matthew 6:31‭-‬33 (NLT),
Jesus said…
“So don’t worry about these things, saying, ‘What will we eat? What will we drink? What will we wear?’ These things dominate the thoughts of unbelievers, but your heavenly Father already knows all your needs. Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need.

And Colossians 3:1‭-‬4 (NLT) exhorts…
Since you have been raised to new life with Christ, set your sights on the realities of heaven, where Christ sits in the place of honor at God’s right hand. Think about the things of heaven, not the things of earth. For you died to this life, and your real life is hidden with Christ in God. And when Christ, who is your life, is revealed to the whole world, you will share in all his glory.

Consider…
Hearkening back to Monday’s eclipse, I am reminded that the phenomenon occurs when the moon, which orbits around the earth, intersects with Earth’s orbit around the sun.

According to NASA, Earth revolves in orbit around the Sun in 365 days, 6 hours, 9 minutes with reference to the stars, at a speed ranging from 29.29 to 30.29 km/s.

And Wikipedia says, Earth orbits the Sun at an average distance of 149.60 million km (8.317 light minutes, 92.96 million mi) in a counterclockwise direction as viewed from above the Northern Hemisphere. One complete orbit takes 365.256 days (1 sidereal year), during which time Earth has traveled 940 million km (584 million mi).

These facts illuminate a couple of spiritual parallels between the creation and the Creator.

• Like the sun, the Son of God, never moves. Hebrews 13:8 (NLT) explains, “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.”
• And like the Earth, God expects our lives to revolve around the Son. Luke 9:35 (AMP) says, Then a voice came out of the cloud, saying, “This is My beloved Son, My Chosen One; listen and obey and yield to Him!”
• Also like the Earth, even when life appears to be spinning out of control and leaving us in darkness, God is turning our darkness into light. Psalms 18:28 (ERV) explains, “Lord, you provide the flame for my lamp. You, God, turn the darkness around me into light.”
• Lastly, also like earth, God expects our lives to revolve around Christ daily. In Luke 9:23 (NLT), Jesus said, “If any of you wants to be my follower, you must give up your own way, take up your cross daily, and follow me.”

The Holy Spirit is admonishing us that God wants all of our love, full devotion, and complete attention. He led me to Exodus 34:14 (NLT) which emphasizes God’s possessive attitude towards us. It reads…
You must worship no other gods, for the Lord, whose very name is Jealous, is a God who is jealous about his relationship with you.

That pushes the play button in mind and I hear David Crowder Band singing…

He is jealous for me
Loves like a hurricane
I am a tree bending beneath
The weight of His wind and mercy
When all of a sudden
I am unaware of these afflictions eclipsed by glory
And I realize just how beautiful You are
And how great Your affections are for me
Oh how He loves us
Oh, oh how He loves us
How He loves us
Oh

Next, the Holy Spirit rotated my thoughts to Mark 12:29‭-‬30 (NLT), where Jesus declared…
“The most important commandment is this: ‘Listen, O Israel! The Lord our God is the one and only Lord. And you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, and all your strength.’”

This launched an old familiar Hymn from my playlist, which says…

There is a Name I love to hear,
I love to sing its worth;
It sounds like music in my ear,
The sweetest Name on earth.

It tells me of a Savior’s love,
Who died to set me free;
It tells me of His precious blood,
The sinner’s perfect plea.

It tells me of a Father’s smile
Beaming upon His child;
It cheers me through this little while,
Through desert, waste, and wild.

It tells me what my Father hath
In store for every day,
And though I tread a darksome path,
Yields sunshine all the way.

It tells of One whose loving heart
Can feel my deepest woe;
Who in each sorrow bears a part
That none can bear below.

It bids my trembling heart rejoice;
It dries each rising tear;
It tells me, in a “still small voice,”
To trust and never fear.

Jesus, the Name I love so well,
The Name I love to hear:
No saint on earth its worth can tell,
No heart conceive how dear.

This Name shall shed its fragrance still
Along this thorny road,
Shall sweetly smooth the rugged hill
That leads me up to God.

And there with all the blood-bought throng,
From sin and sorrow free,
I’ll sing the new eternal song
Of Jesus’ love for me.

Refrain:
Oh, how I love Jesus,
Oh, how I love Jesus,
Oh, how I love Jesus,
Because He first loved me!

WOW! WOW! WOW! 😲 Those lyrics are fire 🔥🔥🔥. When you think about who Jesus is and what He’s done, how can you not love Him ‘More Than Anything’, (in harmony with Lamar Campbell)?

That’s what our Lord wants, rather requires. He stresses it this way in Luke 14:26 (NLT)…
“If you want to be my disciple, you must, by comparison, hate everyone else—your father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters—yes, even your own life. Otherwise, you cannot be my disciple.

Next in The Holy Spirit’s orbit around our Christ-centered focus, He guided me to Ephesians 4:21‭-‬24 (NLT), which exhorts …
Since you have heard about Jesus and have learned the truth that comes from him, throw off your old sinful nature and your former way of life, which is corrupted by lust and deception. Instead, let the Spirit renew your thoughts and attitudes. Put on your new nature, created to be like God—truly righteous and holy.

The Holy Spirit showed me that after the complete darkness from a total eclipse passes, the sun’s visibility is renewed. In the same way after sin has darkened our lives, our thoughts and attitudes have to be renewed by the Holy Spirit to see the Son again

That scripture and understanding fast forwarded on my playlist to Michael W Smith’s song lyrics…

Open the eyes of my heart, Lord
Open the eyes of my heart
I want to see You
I want to see You
To see You high and lifted up
Shinin’ in the light of Your glory
Pour out Your power and love
As we sing holy, holy, holy

Whether read or sung, the Holy Spirit is emphasizing that God desires and requires Jesus to be the center of our lives. That’s because we can only have a relationship with our Heavenly Father, through His Only Son, as led by His Spirit! Ephesians 2:18 (NLT)
says it this way…
Now all of us can come to the Father through the same Holy Spirit because of what Christ has done for us.

Okay Holy Spirit, we get it, Jesus must be the center of our life. But how does that look practically speaking? 1 Peter 1:13‭-‬16 (NLT)
answers…
So prepare your minds for action and exercise self-control. Put all your hope in the gracious salvation that will come to you when Jesus Christ is revealed to the world. So you must live as God’s obedient children. Don’t slip back into your old ways of living to satisfy your own desires. You didn’t know any better then. But now you must be holy in everything you do, just as God who chose you is holy. For the Scriptures say, “You must be holy because I am holy.”

How can our lives revolve around Jesus?

• Prepared minds, which requires studying His word. (2 Timothy 2:15)
• Daily self-control exercise, which requires letting the Holy Spirit lead and guide you (Galatians 5:16)
• Keep hope alive, which means enduring faith must continually grow in us (Romans 5:3-5)
• And last, but not least, we must keep pressing upwards towards the Son. (Philippians 3:13-15)

When we do these things, we will be be in full alignment with the Holy Spirit, orbiting around the Son, in the same way He was led by the Spirit and orbited around The Father. 💞

My daily prayer is Lord, let everything I think, say and do, glorify and honor You. I believe if you make this your daily prayer too, no matter what’s going on around you, you’ll be able to see and keep Jesus at the center of it all! 🙏🏾🙏🏾🙏🏾

Today’s Song…
Jesus At The Center

Blessings 4HG (1 Corinthians 10:31)