Posted By Tim Mannin
I often have to remind myself that I am nothing without God.
When I had a desk (I’m a little more mobile these days) I kept a sticky note on it with a statement written by A.W. Tozer, “In me nothing, in Christ everything.” Think about that statement…it’s a statement any Christ follower would adamantly nod their head in agreement to and give a bellowing “AMEN!”
If we were honest, most of us would admit that we don’t always live this way. We struggle to completely empty ourselves to a place of nothingness. Nothingness doesn’t mean we have absolutely nothing about us that is unique, special, or significant—simply stated, it means we live a life that when people see us they see Christ. It means that we live a life where everything points to Christ as the designer and supreme authority. He is the one all credit and submission is given to.
How do we live life like that?
I’ve said the following statement in sermons before, but it has become especially important during this season of planting OKC Community Church.
"Boy on a High Dive" Norman Rockwell, 1947
FOLLOWING JESUS
is like taking a
C A N N O N B A L L
INTO THE POOL OF ENDLESS
uncertainties, questions, & possibilities
that a life with Christ has to offer.
It’s a leap of faith.
It’s living life in a place of complete dependency upon Christ. It’s acknowledging that we are nothing and that Christ is everything. It’s desiring to be in a place of H O P E and T R U S T and W O N D E R and P U R P O S E. We all want our lives to be full of such things…to hope for something better, to trust God in everything, to be in awesome wonder of who He is, and to be filled with significant purpose to our everyday life.
When I was a kid, during the summers I went to the community pool with my friends. At the deep end of the pool three diving boards stood ominously challenging every little kid that dared climb their steps. In the middle of these three boards stood the high dive—sixteen terror-filled feet above the water. I can remember to this day the fear of climbing that high dive for the first time…uncertain if I would actually survive the ordeal.
It’s a simple illustration, but standing on the edge of a high dive as a kid feels similar to starting a church. OKC Community is a chance for many of us to take the plunge. To leap off the edge with hopeful trust, dream filled wonder, and a determined purpose—to make a cannonball into the pool of endless uncertainties, questions, and possibilities that a life with Jesus has for each and every one of us. This church needs people who are willing to climb the steps, walk out to the edge, and courageously jump in the deep end of the pool with us.
The weeks and months ahead are full of a lot of questions, but when we cling to words like, “in me nothing, in Christ everything” it turns the questions into possibilities.
God has us.
He has you.
He has this church.
November 4th is our first core gathering and it marks the start of a group of people ready to make a cannonball. It marks a beautiful picture of faith filled people ready to trust him with the outcome.