Because I Needed to Read It

I heard or read an author (I think it was Douglas Wilson) explain that he wrote books because he needed to read them. That is certainly the case here. I needed to think “on paper” about how Christ is the center of and motive behind everything that God is doing in the universe. I must be taught again and again that the Bible is the story of Jesus and no one else. The words, “Jesus is Lord,” flow easily from my lips, but to wrap my mind around the enormity of that statement, and to set my heart beating for its appropriate end, required a fresh and careful meditation. I know the Bible is about Jesus, but to keep knowing it I must learn it over and over. That’s why I wrote this book.

 

Because I Couldn’t Keep It In

You know that sensation when something strikes you as particularly funny and you can’t stop thinking about it? And you can’t stop laughing about it? And you can’t stop your mind from gravitating to it? And the next several hours or so are marked by sudden outbursts of chuckling and giggling? You try to repress it. You try to put your mind somewhere else. You try to get on with your life, but for the rest of the day you are controlled by the cackle. That’s sort of what has happened to me. Only it’s no laughing matter, nor has it waned after a few hours.

Since discovering and understanding that all things were created for Jesus, it just comes out of me, in casual conversation, in counseling meetings, and certainly in preaching. I am constantly thinking about how this points to Christ, or how that calls for allegiance to Christ, or how this would change if our objective was the glory of Christ. And then, with spontaneous and irresistible force, I find myself speaking of Christ. I see Him everywhere in the Bible. I see “made for Jesus Christ” stamped on the clouds, the mountains, and the squirrel in my backyard. I hear Him as the lyric of the world’s song, and I must sing.

And I must write.

 

Because Christ Is Life (Colossians 3:4)

Jesus isn’t a helpful add-on to life. He isn’t simply our comfort and hope. He is life itself. Eternal life is knowing Him (John 17:3). Without Jesus, you have no existence and no meaning. With Jesus, you have these abundantly and endlessly.

Many years ago, Thomas Brooks wrote, “He enjoys nothing, who lacks communion with God; he lacks nothing, who enjoys communion with God; therefore above all gettings, get communion with Christ, and above all keepings, keep communion with Christ.” We cannot truly delight in anything if we are far from the Savior. On the other hand, when our fellowship with Christ is sweet, everything else tastes sugary as well.

I have written hoping to help you find that incomparable savor of living for the Savior.

 

Because You and I Must Exalt Jesus as King

I have used the phrase intentionally Christ-obsessed in all things repeatedly throughout this book. It’s the phrase I hope will accurately characterize my life. I say “hope” because I have not yet been able to achieve it with any permanence. But I will keep trying, for He is worthy.

Each word is carefully chosen. I want to be taken, preoccupied, and entirely consumed with Jesus Christ. I want this obsession to extend to every aspect of my life, big or small. And I want my zeal for Christ to come deliberately, with premeditation and forethought. Pleasing Christ is not something one stumbles upon or does accidentally. It is to be the highest, most constant pursuit of any person’s life.

The reason I want to be obsessed with Christ is simple, it’s because God is obsessed with Christ. He made the universe so that His Son Jesus would be exalted to its throne. I have written in the hope that you will join me, as I join King David, in proclaiming to Christ:

“Yours, O LORD, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the victory and the majesty, indeed everything that is in the heavens and the earth; Yours is the dominion, O LORD, and You exalt Yourself as head over all.” (1 Chronicles 29:11)

 Amen!