Is the world of Jesus big enough to support a full, well-rounded life? Our song’s title says “YES!” This classic hymn is joyful and upbeat, sure to bring a smile — please give it a “sing-along” look, then come back and we’ll grab a glimpse of the glorious expanse of Jesus’s world.

World views

There are two basic world views:
1. God created man
2. Man creates God

“Man creates God” attracts people who are smart enough to see mankind will probably destroy the world, but MIGHT evolve into better creatures before that happens. It will just take more time — lots more time — to get it right. But creating God might be low on their priority list because they are “doing the work of God” so their world is complete without Him.

Their DREAM world might be represented by a picture of kids wearing bright,colorful clothes, representing diverse cultures, holding hands in a circle and smiling brightly. A LOT of time and effort have already gone into building that dream. But history teaches us that when men run the show, it ends up badly.

When men run the world, the reality has often been ghastly beyond description.

Man upgrades his world view

Sooner or later, the “Man creates God” man realizes something is missing. There is a God-shaped hole inside him that needs to be filled, and he sets about to fill it. Man’s highest and noblest efforts result in:

philosophy:
“the study of the nature of knowledge, reality, and existence”, and/or
religion:
“the belief in and worship of a superhuman controlling power“

In religion and philosophy we find men’s very best thinking on how to live right. Of course, men often include Jesus as an important figure in philosophies and religions they make.

Some would say Jesus’s part is, at best, small. The thinking might go something like this:
The world is a really big place,
and
Religions make up only a small part of the world,
and
Jesus makes up a part of one of those religions.

To sound smart and scientific, they might say it with math terms, using the “greater than” symbol (“>”) like this:

WORLD > Religions > Jesus

In this view, the world is big, the small area where religion can be found is somewhere far away, and that’s where we would find Jesus — nearest to the Christian corner of all the religions.

A man’s gotta know his limitations

Let’s be real.
We want full lives.
We are limited in time and ability to try out everything.
We need a clear picture of what to reach for.

I offer that clear picture in this list of five areas to develop for a full life:

1. Acquire an in-depth spiritual perception and awareness
HOW is this done? In Ephesians, Paul prayed that God would give us the spirit of wisdom and revelation to know God and His Son, Jesus Christ, so that we could see and know the hope of His calling, the riches of the glory of his inheritance, and the exceeding greatness of his power to believers, as seen when God raised Jesus from the dead. We can pray for that, too.

Want more? Okay …
2. Receive training in the whole Word so as to be able to teach others
All scripture is “God breathed” and useful for doctrine, reproof and correction — for instruction in righteousness. If we can learn AND teach how to live righteously, isn’t THAT pretty much everything? But wait. There’s more…

3. Physical training — making your physical body, the vehicle of communication of the Word, as vital as possible
It should be common sense that we need to take care of these bodies. We only get one! Physical health deserves our best attention. We should learn what makes us look and feel healthy, and do those things. Jesus heals — and that’s part of our health plan — PLUS there’s much we can learn to do.

With these THREE, we have a complete person of BODY, SOUL, and SPIRIT. That is HUGE. But, now, what does a complete person DO?

4. Believe to bring material abundance to you and the ministry
We learn to GIVE and to RECEIVE so we can be equipped to get in the game and serve. If we are alive, we have SOMETHING to give, and that’s where we start. We need to give — and we NEED TO RECEIVE. II Corinthians says, “God is able to make all grace abound toward you, that you always, having all sufficiency, in all things may abound to every good work.” Ask. Give. Receive. Become equipped to serve.

5. Go forth as leaders and workers in areas of concern, interest, and need
What can a person — who is acquiring and in-depth spiritual perception and awareness — and getting a good working knowledge of God’s Word — and maintaining a healthy body — having all sufficiency in all things through giving and receiving — DO? Go lead and work in areas of concern, interest and need.

I’m here to tell you, only Jesus Christ makes it possible to ABOUND in all five of these areas of life. Let him be all the world to you. He’s really, really good at it.

God bless you lots!

-Dale R.

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Download this song sheet

LYRICS: Jesus Is All The World To Me
Song by Will L. Thompson (1904)

Jesus is all the world to me,
My life, my joy, my all;
He is my strength from day to day,
Without him I would fall:
When I am sad, to him I go,
No other one can cheer me so;
When I am sad, he makes me glad,
He’s my friend.

Jesus is all the world to me,
And true to him I’ll be;
Oh, how could I this friend deny,
When he’s so true to me?
Following him I know I’m right,
He watches o’er me day and night;
Following him by day and night,
He’s my friend.

Jesus is all the world to me,
I want no better friend;
I trust him now, I’ll trust him when
Life’s fleeting days shall end:
Beautiful life with such a friend,
Beautiful life that has no end;
Eternal life, eternal joy,
He’s my friend.

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– Dale R.

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