Are You Self-centered or God-centered?
By Rick Warren

“Instead of worrying, pray .... It’s wonderful what happens when Christ displaces worry at the center of your life” (Philippians 4:6-7 MSG).

What will be the center of your life?

In other words, who or what are you going to live for? There are a lot of options. You can center your life around a career, a sport, a hobby, making money, or having fun.

There’s nothing wrong with any of these things. They’re all fine, but they all make a lousy center for your life. You need something at the center of your life that is absolutely unchanging, that can never be taken away from you. Because if it can, you will lose your security. You will always be under stress. You need something that is unchanging and secure.

One of the ways you know that Jesus is at the center of your life is you worry less. Any time you start worrying, it should be a red flag, a warning sign that says, “I’ve allowed someone or something to become the center of my life instead of God.” You could make a person the center of your life, and you’ll be under stress because you know that person can walk out of your life any time or die or get sick.

There’s only one thing you can put at the center of your life that will never change and is strong enough to sustain you through life: Jesus Christ.

Do you remember years ago they used to have these things called Super Balls? When you bounced it on the ground, it’d go 30 or 40 feet high. Why? Because the center of a Super Ball was a tightly compacted, solid core. That’s what gave it its bounce-ability.

When your core is solid in God, you have bounce-ability. You bounce back from stress faster. You bounce back from problems faster. You bounce back from grief faster. You bounce back from crisis faster. You have something solid in your life that doesn’t change, and you worry less.

The Bible says in Philippians 4:6-7, “Instead of worrying, pray .... It’s wonderful what happens when Christ displaces worry at the center of your life” (MSG).

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Talk It Over

• What do you think about the most? What does it say about your priorities?
• Why do you think you bounce back faster from adversity when your life is centered on Jesus?

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This devotional © 2016 by Rick Warren. All rights reserved. Used by permission.

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