I have finally found a place to live

In the presence of the Lord

                – Eric Clapton

That was then; this is now. My purpose for turning back the clock on the Jesus movement (see yesterday’s Catch) was to show how God periodically breaks in on history, and when He does, it’s to bring us back to Jesus. Jesus alone. Simplify. Clear out the clutter. And it’s not just the message about Jesus we’re talking about, it is the person and presence of Jesus. Jesus and nothing else. It’s the presence that changes everything.

How easy it is for the church and Christians in general to drift to other matters of importance that crowd out Jesus and the whole point of being a Christian. Things like church attendance, politics, social issues, religion, morality, fear, safety, and the creation of a Christian culture can all dominate our time and attention, and suddenly, we are no longer focused on the presence of the Lord. We are taken up with other things. They may be good things, but the good will always be the enemy of the best if the good is all you have. The best is Jesus; and when you have Jesus, you have everything else.

In Eric Clapton’s song quoted above, he sings it the first time: “I have finally found a place to live in the presence of the Lord.” That’s truly all about Jesus, and to be forever in a place where He is, is to be in His presence at all times. But the second time through, he sings, “I have finally found a way to live in the color of the Lord,” and to me, that is a poetic statement of what happens when you live in the presence of the Lord: His presence colors everything. When everything is focused on the Lord, everything reflects His glory and His intentions. You live in the color of the Lord. We are all different, but we are all the same in Him.

This is what we have been waiting for. We are at that place in history again where Jesus is breaking through. Look and listen. Distinctions are falling away. The division that has caused so much hurt and pain is over when Jesus comes. In Jesus we are all one. There is no distinction in Christ — no class, no male or female, Jew or Greek, slave or free, rich or poor, Democrat or Republican, liberal or conservative. In Christ we are one — “one body and one Spirit, just as [we] were called to one hope when [we] were called; one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all” (Ephesians 4:4-6).

It’s all about Jesus. And when we step into Jesus, we come together as one, in the presence of the Lord.