He is before all things, and in him all things hold together.
Colossians 1.17
Twelve words which should excite us, challenge us, and cause us to fall on our knees in wonder love and praise. But at the same time twelve words, which if ignored, usher in chaos and evil.
I wonder if we have a tendency to take Jesus for granted – a danger even for Christians.
We give him place in our lives when we think about it but he is not our first thought.
We think we are generally sorted.
When we are young we tend to consider ourselves immortal as the brief span of our lives stretches before us with all its possibilities and actually seems endless!
When we are older we too easily rely on our experience and think of the ‘good od days’!
We fail to come to Jesus, the fount of all wisdom and understanding which is his by virtue of him being eternal ‘before all things’.
I then wonder if our hope and daily living are focused in man’s wisdom.
We trust our health to the medical profession
We trust our income to our employers, private sources, pensions or even try to augment it via the Lottery
We expect our elected representatives to keep the country on course
We trust our defense as a nation to our military
We give a nod to ‘church’ for our spiritual security
Yet it is Jesus who holds all things together.
If Jesus were to withdraw his hand chaos would result and evil would reign supreme. Simply observe what is happening in the world today where Jesus is not at the centre.
Observe what is happening in countries like ours where once God’s Word was held in some prominence and just taking one example, observe what happens when ‘me first’ becomes the popular mantra in areas such as abortion and sexuality.
The challenge is to live our lives in the light of the truth that ‘He is before all things and in him all things hold together’
Then it is to thank God that Jesus is holding all things together for the consequences of it being otherwise are to horrific to contemplate.
Let us live to his glory and thank him for his amazing grace.