Biblical principles bring success, but satisfaction and authentic worship only come through seeing Jesus Christ.
The most important Biblical principle is that God has revealed Himself most fully through His Son, Jesus Christ, and that only in knowing Christ and seeing His glory will we be fully satisfied in our relationship with God the Father. Jesus not only restores our relationship with the Father, He reveals the Father to us by showing us His own glory. Though the Bible is filled with many principles for effective living, our obedience to them and the success that results will never satisfy us apart from our relationship with God in Christ.
The written word, the Bible, was given to us to lead us to the Living Word, Jesus Christ. As we learn to be satisfied in Christ by meditating on His Word and keeping our eyes fixed on Him, obedience will naturally follow as we are transformed into His image by the Holy Spirit. This is not to say that we do not exert effort – to the contrary, our performance is made possible by Christ’s performance for us, and our efforts are empowered by the grace of the Holy Spirit given to us by Christ.
Jesus is the bread of life and living water that feeds and refreshes our soul and spirit. He is the resurrection and the life, the way the truth and the life, the light of the world, the gate, the good shepherd and the vine. Only by abiding in Christ and His Word will we bear fruit. When we go to the scriptures, if we miss Jesus, we have missed the point. Biblical principles bring success, but only the person of Jesus brings us satisfaction, and as a result, the worship that pleases God.
John 1:1-18; Hebrews 1:1-4; Hebrews 4:12-16; Luke 24:13-35; 2 Corinthians 3:18; Hebrews 12:1-2; Acts 1:8; John 15; John 5:22-24; Matthew 15:1-9