17 And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. 18 And he is the head of the body,
the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead,
that in everything he might be preeminent. Colossians
1:17-18
Paul
continues with his explanation of who Jesus is and the place He should have in our
lives. He is before all things. In Him all things hold together. He is the
head. He is the beginning. He is preeminent in everything.
Our culture
doesn’t like to put other people first. We follow leaders only as long as they
don’t disrupt our comfort or individual goals.
“I’ve discovered that the less some people know about Christ the more they like Him. The baby in the manger touches even the most cynical soul who has long since given up on religion. The secularist who is bent on reforming society quotes selected verses from the Sermon on the Mount with reverence. And the religious types use Him as their example of humility, sacrifice, and basic goodness. He is worthy to be spoken about in hushed tones. He is, say some, the first among equals. Yet in all this He is often dammed by faint praise. Since Christ said that the world would hate Him, we can be quite sure that when the world loves Him it is because they have made Him into something He is not. The biblical Christ cannot be dismissed; He stands in our path forcing us to make a decision, either to the right or to the left. In His presence neutrality is impossible. The babe in the manger quickly grows to become God, the King.” (Reference: Paul’s Letter to the Colossians: An Exegetical and Devotional).
I read this quote as I was studying this passage in Colossians and
it powerfully, and sadly, represents what Jesus has become to us. We love Him as
long as He fits our narrative. We love pieces and parts of Him that can be used
to our advantage. We want Him… and we want the world.
But that isn’t how it works with God. He is first. He is before
all things. He is preeminent. He will
not take second place, because He can’t. And with Jesus as the head,
everything flows from that vantage point, not in addition to, or in conflict
with, it. We don’t have a little bit of Jesus here, and a little bit of sin
there…nice and separate and compartmentalized. This is what Paul is trying to
emphasize and it is what Jesus taught so often. We need to seek first the
kingdom of God and all righteousness…and then, the rest will fall into place as
God ordains.
Verse 17 says Jesus is before
all things, and in him all things hold together. He is before all things in
time and priority. Not only is he
first, he is the beginning the end and what holds everything together in
between. The Amplified translation says, “He is the controlling, cohesive force
of the universe.” Things fall apart when what holds them together is
diminished. They start to slip, change shape, fall apart, and ultimately are destroyed
completely...unrecognizable and not at all what they were intended to be.
In Paul’s letters, he is often writing to combat false teachings
the churches are facing. And false teachings always come from a lack of true
understanding about Jesus. False teachings add to Jesus (you need Jesus, PLUS…)
or take away from Jesus or reject who He is (He was a great teacher, BUT…). Jesus
warns so many times about false teachers infiltrating the church body while He
was with them. The resurrected Jesus reveals warnings for John to write down
and send to seven churches (Revelation chapters 2 & 3)…warnings
for them at the time and for us today. He admonishes them for falling prey to false teachers and
being lenient about truth, letting ungodly practices and beliefs creep
in.
In Paul’s letter to Timothy, he writes…
3 For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit
their own passions, 4 and will turn
away from listening to the truth and wander
off into myths. 2 Timothy 4:3-4
Honestly, the idea of falling for false teachings and only hearing
what my “itching ears” want to hear terrifies me. I want to be loving and nonjudgmental
and not miss the bigger picture like the Pharisees in Jesus’ time did, clinging
to their rules, traditions, comfort, control. But In doing so, I don’t want to
fall prey to false doctrines and untruths.
For us to put God first, we really do have to know who God is. We
have to know the truth…the easy and the hard parts. In our well-intentioned
desires to tell people about God, we often (and generally unintentionally)
misrepresent who Jesus is to make Him more “likeable”, “acceptable”, “fitting
within cultural norms”, etc. We say what people want to hear and think we are
doing Him a favor because more people are receptive to Him. But it is a slippery slope that leads to false truths.
Jesus has to be first. Not one of many, but THE ONE supreme and preeminent.
Not one of many ways we can be saved, but the ONLY way we can be saved. Not one
of many ways to God, but the ONLY way to God.
What keeps us from putting God first? Doubt? Belief in false
teachings? Fear? Pride? Desire for control? Ignorance? Envy/coveting? Desire to
fit in? I can answer yes to each of these and I hate it.
How can we make sure to know the truth? To not fall for false
teachings? To keep Jesus as the head of the church and before all things?
The only thing I know to do is to earnestly pray for it, asking
for wisdom and discernment. To stay in His Word, asking Him to reveal truth to
me.
God, no matter how hard, I want to know the truth. I want to
follow Your commands and live the life you created and ordained for me, not
some cultural or selfish opinion of what I should seek and desire and live for.
Help me keep You as head and before all things in my life.
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