The God-Centered Life

What does it mean to be God-centered? I like to use this phrase to describe my life and ministry. It seems to encapsulate what the Christian life should be. For all roads, as it were, run to and from God. When you love God with your whole heart--when your life comes not from self-wrought, finite objects but from the unending wellspring of life that is God (Jer. 2:12-13)--you learn to center everything you are around Him. How you treat people, how you pray, how you pick jobs, how you drive your car, how you raise your kids, how you deal with extreme tragedy, how you die, etc. If you are God-centered, you will necessarily be centered on all things good and full of light: hope, love, joy, peace, sacrifice. This is the God-centered life. (Note that this phrase is somewhat interchangeable with phrases like "Christ-centered" and "Gospel-centered.")

This is especially the case if you think about what the opposite would be. Self-centered, TV centered, sex-centered, car centered, or even love centered. Outside of the grace of God, even love is destructive and empty. St. Augustine said "He loves thee too little who loves anything together with Thee, which he loves not for thy sake."

John Piper teaches this subject in a different way here.