DAY 11
Reflections on Ephesians: DAY 1/ DAY 2 / DAY 3 / DAY 4 / DAY 5 / DAY 6
Reflections on Philippians: DAY 7 / DAY 8 / DAY 9 / DAY 10
Worship Meditation: For Christ Is The Head of the Church by Scripture in Song, He is Exalted by Kent Henry and Jesus Name Above All Names by Charlie Leblanc
Reading: Colossians 1
Christ is also the Head of the church, which is His Body. He is the beginning, supreme over all who rise from the dead. So He is first in everything. Colossians 1:18
My daily devotion project ends with Colossians and I just am grateful to God for the daily revelations and leading that He has given to me during the past 10 days. Ephesians established and affirmed to me who we are in Christ. The position we are in, seated in heavenly places with Jesus. The authority we have as people united with Christ. Philippians taught me pure joy. It made me fall even in love with a God who wants to be intimate with me. It set my heart ablaze for Jesus - I can still feel the words of Paul vibrating in my heart, "Everything else is worthless compared to the infinite value of knowing Christ."
And now Paul brings us Colossians. Now we direct our eyes on the truth of who Jesus is and how powerful and amazing He is -- words cannot quantify. But Paul, with knowledge from God, tries to put those into words in this chapter.
My NLT (New Living Translation) Bible entitled the section under verses 15 to 20 as "Christ is Supreme."
First, we shall define the word supreme.
supreme (of authority or an office, or someone holding it) superior to all others
strongest, most important, or most powerful.
very great or intense; extreme.
Most of the time, the pictures we have of Jesus are either of the following: Jesus suffering on the cross, Jesus in the manger, Baby Jesus (Sto. Niño), Smiling Jesus, Kind, Meek, Loving Jesus.
Those images of Christ are not wrong. But, there is a bigger side of Him that Paul here wants us to see. He wanted us to have a better understanding of Jesus so that when we know the real Jesus, we will not seek anyone else. We will stay away from all counterfeits. We will want the True One. The one who is SUPREME overall.
Christ is supreme. Christ is strongest. Christ is most important. Christ is most powerful.
Please read verses 15 to 20. I had a hard time choosing which verse to focus on. Everything was so rich and I wanted to digest and touch on everything else...like how beautifully He is described as the visible image of the invisible God (v15), and that through Him all things were created (v16).
Let me just insert a very quick anecdote about verse 16 here. I once asked Fr. Jun Peñalosa how Jesus Christ was able to speak to 4000 to 5000 men (not counting the women and children) on a hilltop without a microphone and still be heard by all. He said that in those days, specific places were chosen for gatherings of such magnitude because of how sound would travel. He said that he believes that Jesus knew the exact spot in the mountain/ hill where He could project His voice and everyone could hear Him. "Remember, the world was created through Jesus. He was there when everything was formed. So He understands science, how it works, like how sound travels!" That thought never really occurred to me but that just made so much sense! Perhaps Jesus also tapped into the supernatural, but guys, we cannot discount that He would also know how the world worked, science included, because He created it. SKL.
So Christ is the head of the church. We know this. It's been said so many times. In principle, we know this to be true. And I guess in a sense sometimes we just automatically assume that Christ really is the head of our individual churches and that's it.
Today I encourage you to pray for your church. The one you go to every Sunday. Do you feel the presence of Jesus Christ in your church? Do you see that everything your church does brings back all the glory to Jesus Christ? Is sound teaching about Him and His word being preached? Do people feel a sense of holiness or reverence when they are inside? If there is hesitation in some of your answers then I urge you to pray for your Church and your Church leaders.
Colossians 1 tries to instill in us that Jesus Christ is our supreme leader. Without Him, we are literally a headless church. He is the beginning, He is the first in everything. HE IS ALREADY THE ANSWER.
He is our SOURCE, and without Him, we cease to exist.
This is also another reminder to stop looking for answers elsewhere. Some practices and beliefs will disguise themselves as "light" and will even give you that counterfeit feeling of encountering divinity. Remember, they are perversions of the real thing and the Real Thing is Jesus Christ. Nothing compares, so discard all those practices and go directly to The Source.
So who is Jesus Christ? He is the:
Visible Image of an Invisible God (v15)
Creator of All Things (v16)
Holds *ALL* Creation Together (He did not just create but He also *preserves*) (v 17)
Head of the Church (v18)
The Beginning (v18)
Supreme over All (v18)
The Fullness of God Dwells in Him (v19)
Jesus is all of these things. And then guess what? In verse 20...
and through Him God reconciled everything to Himself. He made peace with everything in heaven and on earth by means of Christ's blood on the cross.
That Jesus - that SUPREME JESUS - is responsible for us being reconciled back to God.
"For as in Adam all die, so in Christ, all will be made alive." - 1 Corinthians 15:22
When we approach Christ, let us lose our sense of entitlement and replace it with an attitude of complete reverence, awe, and thankfulness.
You were bought with a price by no less than Jesus Christ Himself. And dude, it does not even end there.
In Colossians 1:27 Paul says, For God wanted them to know the riches and glory of Christ are for you Gentiles too. And this is the secret: Christ lives in you. This gives you assurance of sharing in His glory.
Our hope in sharing in His glory is not because of our own hard work. It is because of the abiding presence of Jesus Christ who is in us. He is INSIDE of us. Let that sink in.
PRAYER: Lord Jesus, may we always be reminded that You are supreme overall. Forgive us for our sense of entitlement, our apathy, or our lukewarmness. Open our eyes to see the magnitude of Who You are, even just a glimpse, that we may always have a sense of reverence and Holy Fear for You. We pray for our churches. Thank You that we will always remember that Jesus Christ is the head of the church. May our Church be about You always, and may our worship, our customs, our practices, our rituals, always point to You. We invite you to dwell in us and in our churches, oh God. Saturate us with your most Holy Presence that we will never desire to seek satisfaction or assurance from anything else. Destroy all the false gods in our lives as we seek to surrender ourselves completely to You who are supreme overall. Amen.
Comments
Post a Comment