Craig Clouston

I’m Christ’s Alone

For in Him we move and live and have our being.
Acts 17:28

Many of the songs he’d written were inspired by the trials he’d faced. This song had become his mission statement, so to speak.
Jon had tested the waters of life. But there hadn’t been much wisdom in Jon’s selection process. He’d just headed out with the belief that he was entitled to have some fun. When confronted about his cavalier lifestyle, Jon smugly answered, “If it was good enough for Solomon, then it’s good enough for me!” So Jon set out to pleasure himself for the purpose of gaining self-awareness, an experiment of sorts, he called it. After years of the more sordid things of life, he’d gotten tired of the casual life. Redirecting his efforts, Jon pursued a more spiritual awakening, using mind-altering chemicals to assist in gaining nirvana.
One evening while high on crystal meth, Jon sideswiped an abandoned vehicle along the side of the road. His vehicle had rolled twice and come to rest in the ditch. Suffering life-threatening injuries, Jon had somehow survived.
Over the next ten weeks, he labored in the rehabilitation ward at the OSU Medical Center. Layer by layer, God peeled away Jon’s rebellion. One of his rehab nurses spoke to Jon about how blessed he was to have survived. She spoke about the hope she had found in Jesus Christ. The week before Jon left Dodd Hall, he gave his life to Christ, writing the words that would later become the song “I’m Christ’s Alone.”

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Many of us have traveled through life taking our own little detours from God’s designated path, recklessly experimenting with dangerous things, so we could experience life on our own terms. Most, if not all of us found nothing but emptiness.
Luke, in today’s text, sums up Paul’s words to the Romans about the freedom to be found in a relationship with Jesus Christ. Paul told them that God gives all men life, breath, and everything else, so that they might seek and find His Son. Like Jon, God is always willing to meet us at our point of surrender. Unlike Jon, we needn’t take life’s detours.

Prayer

“Lord Jesus, I’m tired of running. Lead me into a life better lived through Your Spirit. In Your Name I pray, amen.”