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Our identities are complex, but in Christ all our claims to fame fade into greyness in the light of the glory he shares with us. My first identity is that I belong to Christ. It is Christ upon who I depend, and Christ who I want to be like. It is Christ who brings me to his Father and Christ who sets me in the right with his Father. It is Christ who has died and been raised and who will one day raise me with him into the presence of his Father's glory.

So it is no wonder that we Christ-followers know Christ as the centre, and foundation of our lives. And no wonder that he is the one we preach, and talk about and want others to know.

As for preachers, pray that they will preach Christ. Christ crucified, Christ as Lord.

As for all of us, we could copy Paul's desire, “I want to know Christ—yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, attaining to the resurrection from the dead.” (Phil 3.10)

For me, to live … is Christ. That was Paul's motto, and can be ours.

Dale

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