WHAT IS YOUR CENTER OF GRAVITY?

WHAT’S YOUR

CENTER

 OF GRAVITY?

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Catholic Bishop Barron’s list of faulty centers to build your life around failed to include my own, which were the church and the Bible.  His list contained money and material things, power and position, the esteem of others.  He recognized possibilities like your country or your political party or your ethnic identity, or perhaps your family, your kids, your spouse.

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He contends that we all have a, “center of gravity around which everything else turns.”  He admits that, “None of this is false; and none of these things are bad.  However, when you place any of them in the absolute center of gravity, things go awry.  When you make any of them your ultimate or final good, your spiritual life goes haywire.  When you attach yourself to any of them with an absolute tenacity, you will fall apart.”  Bishop Barron is right, but as I commented to a dear friend, “He left out what became my faulty gravitational center.”

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I further explained to her, “It didn't happen abruptly, but overtime the church (evangelical) and the Bible became my center of gravity.  Neither of them is God but my tenacity for them caused things to go awry.  Thankfully, God in Jesus by the Holy Spirit caught me before things went completely haywire.  He, not they, is the center of gravity.  Both the Bible and the church point to God, Himself, as the only appropriate center.”

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“That's interesting,” my friend responded.  “If you don't mind me asking, in what ways do you feel the Bible and the church pulled you away?” 

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More than a little pleased with her curiosity I explained, “It was a subtle shift in commitment and loyalty.  The Holy Spirit within speaks directly to His children, and it can be evaluated as authentic by consulting a church leader or the Bible.  Sadly, I allowed the church and the Bible to be my primary director rather than sources of verification.  That subtle shift put those elements (though good) before God.  As a result, if something seemed to be good for the church or support a particular doctrinal interpretation, I let them override the internal voice of God.  Subsequently, the Bible and the church actually came between God and me.”

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Without going into detail examples I continued, “There are a number of Biblical and church sponsored directives, which on the surface seem to command actions antithetical to the character and nature of God in Christ Jesus.  I dealt with this type of dichotomy on a daily bases as a church-growth consultant/pastor, and discovered that my commitments had shifted away from what the Holy Spirit was saying to my spirit.  I was justifying "Bible doctrine" and methods of increasing church attendance at the cost of ignore the Holy Spirit.  It became obvious to me that my center of gravity had shifted toward the lesser ‘gods’ of doctrine and church.” 

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I finished saying, “Confused, I struggled to change gears for 5 years.  Finally, I allowed the Holy Spirit to bring me to the realization that I could not rehabilitate myself.  I had to ask Him to become my center of gravity once again.”  As Christians know, permitting God to take the center of gravity is an unnatural submission of oneself to Another Spirit.  

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My friend concluded adding, “I wonder how many people that happens to.  I am sure many more than one would hope.  I am glad you were finally able to listen to the Holy Spirit talking within your heart.  I know in my own life there have been religious figures I have listened to over what God was actually trying to tell me.  It took some hard lessons, but I eventually got the message.”

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That re-centering process has been an often-reoccurring theme in a number of my past blog posts.