The first Jaws movie came out in 1975. I was traveling to Nashville Tennessee that year and my friend persuaded me to go to the theater to watch it. I could not go swimming in the ocean for months after that because I would hear that music in my head.
Isn’t is amazing what movies can do in shaping our thinking and living?
In 1978 I got married, and my new wife and I were in Hawaii for our honeymoon, a trip provided to us by friends. We wanted to do something special while there so we went scuba diving. Neither of us had ever done this before, but laws were pretty lax back then. Anyway, the instructor took us to a beautiful reef and took me down 50ft. There, he told me to wait as he went to get Susan my wife who was on the boat above. The water was so clear that you could see about 200ft. Everything was great until I turned around and looked at the open ocean. There was nothing but blue water. Suddenly, the theme song for Jaws came flooding back into my mind! I turned back towards the reef and thought. I would rather not see it coming because I am a sitting duck!
So what’s the point?
In the ocean, the shark has dominion. On land he does not. The same goes for the believer. We were not just called to come to Christ to be forgiven, but to change the kingdom we were submitting to. The idea was to come into the protection and provision of a different realm: God’s kingdom.
The apostle Paul wrote long ago about what it truly means to be a follower of Christ. He defined just how we gain forgiveness for past mistakes and failures well as how to be victorious over the things that can ruin our lives in the future.
Colossians 1:13-14 (NASB)For He rescued us from the domain of darkness, and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.
He identified the larger picture of changing our kingdom rule. How coming to Christ rescues us from the kingdom of darkness and puts us in the kingdom of God. What he establishes is the crucial importance of who we give authority to in our lives. Who sets the standard for our new life in Christ.
So many who claim Christ as their redeemer and savior never give Christ the authority to change them, only to forgive them. If you read the Bible at all you know that’s not possible.
The old saying of, “If he isn’t Lord of all, He isn’t Lord at all” is so true.
Questions:
1) Do you call yourself a follower of Christ and therefore a Christian?
2) As a follower of Jesus have you re-established the authority in your life from Satan and yourself to letting Christ be Lord?
If you haven’t done so, can I encourage you to read the book of Colossians? It’s spelled out very clearly what it means to follow Jesus.
Pastor Dale
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