"Year in Review" - August

Oddly, my favorite part of August was something I had nothing to do with ... relaunching the Pre-Teen Ministry in a brand new classroom. Looking back on life, I know that was a time in my life when I learned a lot about God and being a Jesus follower and I am excited there is a cool place where our younger Eastsiders can do that too. My favorite entry came from August 11th...

SUPREME

There are several different areas of concentration within the study of God, known as “theology”. One specific area is the study of Jesus or Christ, known as “Christology”. The following verses provide one of the most important passages for this study. Paul included this description of Jesus because the church in Colosse was being impacted by some false teachers that were basically creating their own religion by trying to harmonize aspects of several different beliefs. In the process, they were minimizing the importance of Jesus. Paul wanted to remind them of the absolute supremacy of Jesus.

Colossians 1

15 Christ is the visible image of the invisible God. He existed before anything was created and is supreme over all creation,

16 for through him God created everything in the heavenly realms and on earth. He made the things we can see and the things we can’t see - such as thrones, kingdoms, rulers, and authorities in the unseen world. Everything was created through him and for him.

17 He existed before anything else, and he holds all creation together.

18 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.

19 For God in all his fullness was pleased to live in Christ,

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.

Supreme. Interestingly, things have come full circle or maybe they never really changed. Today, we live in a culture where people “collect” aspects of a variety of faiths to create their own personal belief system. It is considered politically incorrect to say that Jesus is supreme over other faiths. I’m not suggesting you become militant in your beliefs regarding following Jesus; but I do hope that passages like these remind you of exactly who Jesus is and help you stand confidently while on your journey.