Another 'CEO' Season?

The three above letters have represented an inside church joke for countless decades. Obviously, in the secular world, it refers to the a ‘Chief Executive Officer’ in a business or corporation of some kind.

But in church circles, these same  letters stand for something that may be a bit clever, but is not at all humorous, because of the subject matter and the enormous and eternal consequences it speaks about. The short acrostic ‘CEO’ usually surfaces around the two most important times and events on the Christian calendar – Christmas and Easter. These are the sacred days when Christians remember and celebrate the coming into the world of God in the flesh, and then His later sacrificial death and resurrection – actions that brought about the possibility of forgiveness of sin and  man's justification in the eyes of a holy, pure and righteous God.

Again, one who only darkens the door of a church at these two special seasons is sometimes called a “CEO”  In this context, the meaning is a, ‘Christmas and Easter Only’ since it points to someone whose church attendance is typically limited to these two crucial holidays and almost never at any other time of year.

But if today you are a committed follower of Jesus Christ, and attend God’s house on a regular basis, remember that you naturally know a multitude of seasonal ‘CEO’s. And you should know that it is only during these two foundational holidays of the faith that some may be willing to enter the doors of a church if asked by a trusted friend, family member or co-worker. With that in mind, this is the best, and perhaps, the only time to take advantage of inviting and getting a ‘CEO’ into your house of worship.  It is during these two special seasons that God can uniquely speak to someone that would never consider attending at any other time. It is also a unique time where God may give you the greatest opportunity to partner in His greatest priority as He has spelled out in 2 Corinthians 5:20-21:

“Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us: we implore you on Christ's behalf, be reconciled to God. For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.”

And if you yourself are today a so-called ‘CEO’, perhaps it is the time to seriously ponder the sacrifice made by God’s Son to justify you and forgive the sin that eternally separates you from a Holy God. His great love for you was the catalyst that literally drove Him to plan and follow through with the brutal slaying of His beloved Son on a cross! This miraculous truth is clearly declared  in Romans 5:7-9.  He stated there in His word, “But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him.”

That is God’s special plan for your personal salvation.  His special procedure for the same is recorded in the most famous Bible verse ever. But somehow it tragically and often escapes any true consideration or understanding and thus is not ever acted upon from the heart in faith. But it remains the primary issue of what Christmas and Easter are together all about. And its divinely inspired words  not only contain the solitary solution for man's redemption in Christ, but also brings with it the  active cure for the spiritually lacking lifestyle of a seasonal 'CEO'.

“For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life." (John 3:16)

Bill Breckenridge
Former ‘CEO’