It’s Not a Moving Target! (What Jesus wants from every Christian)

Have you ever found yourself asking, “What’s the point of all of this?”

I am 37 years old. I have been a follower of Jesus most of my life. I grew up in church. And I don’t mean our family went to church occasionally. I mean we basically lived there.

At this point, I have heard thousands of sermons. I have participated in—or sometimes, simply endured—more worship services than I can possibly remember. Before I turned 35, I had traveled to well over half the states in the U.S. and served on missions teams in multiple countries for the sake of the gospel.

And when I look back over the last few decades of my life, I can clearly see that those years were largely defined by two things: my love for Jesus and my deep uncertainty about exactly what he wanted from me.

In other words, I have spent decades of my life feeling like the goal of the Christian life was a moving target.

Finding the Bullseye

At Cornerstone, I often talk to our team about “the center of the bullseye.” I’m sure you’ve experienced this in your own life and leadership. There are usually multiple good opportunities in front of us, so many positive outcomes we could pursue, or various places to put our team’s focus, time, resources, and energy.

To help cut through the noise–yes, sometimes good things create more noise or potential distractions than bad things–I will ask our team, “What’s the center of the bullseye?”

When I ask that question, I’m acknowledging all of the good stuff in front of us. But I’m asking what is MOST important. What is the thing that should capture our team’s drive and determination and energy and focus?

Well.

I don’t know about you. But I have often been unsure about the center of the bullseye in the Christian life. Worse than that, a lot of times I feel like the target is constantly moving around.

I shared with our church recently that as I was growing up it often felt like THE SINGLE MOST IMPORTANT THING ABOUT THE CHRISTIAN LIFE was whatever topic the pastor happened to be preaching about that particular Sunday. And next Sunday, we would come back to hear about a different most important thing.

I think that’s the biggest reason it felt like the target was always moving. To be clear, I’m not blaming those pastors. But I simply didn’t know enough to understand how the Christian life could be both complex and clear at the same time.

Complex and Clear

You don’t need me to convince you that the Christian life can be complex.

As a follower of Jesus, you have to learn how to pray, how to study Scripture, how to fight sin, what doctrine is, how to love your neighbor, how to apply the Bible to your finances, your parenting, your marriage, your schedule, your workplace, and on and on it goes.

To live as a Christian, you must (re)learn how to live and serve and sacrifice and give the way Jesus would in every aspect of your life. That’s why it seems so complex and complicated.

But here’s the secret you already know: Jesus is the goal of the Christian life.

From beginning to end, the Christian life is about Jesus. He is the one who calls us to follow him (Matt. 4:19; John 10:27). He is the one who came from heaven to save us (John 6:38; Luke 19:10). He is the one who taught us how to live (John 13:15; Matt. 5-7).

The goal of the Christian life isn’t complicated. It honestly couldn’t be more clear: The goal of the Christian life is to keep your eyes laser-focused on Jesus.

You become a follower of Jesus by looking at Jesus. Once your life has been turned upside down by his love. You simply lock your eyes on Jesus and begin to imitate what you see. And that’s exactly what Jesus wants from you. He wants you to follow him!

Like a toddler learning how to walk, you’re going to fall on your face a bunch of times. Even once you learn to walk, you’ll still fall occasionally. But that’s what grace is for. And the longer and more seriously you follow Jesus, the more his example and fingerprints will show up in all of those areas I listed above.

It will look something like this:

• You’ll learn to parent and handle money and deal with conflict and invest in your marriage the way that Jesus would if he were you.
• You’ll be the kind of church member Jesus wants you to be.
• You’ll read the Bible more.
• You’ll share the gospel more.
• You’ll be more generous.
• You’ll have more patience.

And that’s really just the beginning.

When it comes to the Christian life, Jesus is the center of the bullseye. If you will fix your eyes on him, you will always know where to aim all of your Spirit-driven, grace-fueled effort, energy, and focus.

So if you’ve ever felt like the Christian life is a moving target—take heart. It’s not. Jesus is the bullseye.