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Jesus - The
Great Superlative
www.LivingWalk.com
June 6, 2005
“He is the
image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For by
Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth,
visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities
or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him. And He is
before all things, and in Him all things consist. And He is the head
of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the
dead, that in all things He may have the preeminence.” Colossians
1:15-18
While reading
Paul’s letter to the Colossians I was practically paralyzed by a
sense of the unspeakable wonder of this Being known as Jesus Christ.
Language itself flounders and very nearly fails as this skillful
communicator begins to consider the Living and Eternal Word, the One
who reconciles all the world to God the Father through Himself.
Clearly, He who is
our Lord and Life is the Great Superlative of history.
Oh how we have
reduced Him, my brethren! How we have repackaged Him to all the world
as so much less than what He is! How small and puny are our thoughts
and conceptions of Him, in whom “all the fullness should dwell”!
All things belong
to Him, whether the creation acknowledges it or not. He alone will be
exalted in God’s Plan, with or without the cooperation or
consent of the world! He alone is our Hope of Glory! He alone defines
and enables this mystery of godliness, whereby a created and
corrupted human being is indwelt by the life and glory of God Himself!
He is the one who
disarms the accuser of the saints – the devil himself – by
reducing all of his accusations to dust. He alone fulfills all divine
requirements and obligations! He is the Eternal Substance represented
by all shadows and forms and symbols since the dawn of that first day!
For you died, and
your life is hidden with Christ in God. (Colossians 3:3)
Take a few
moments, my friends, and just stop and consider the immensity of this
statement. Amazing! Truly Amazing! Here it is my brethren, in a
nutshell – the mystery and the power of the Christian life!
He did not come to
show us the way home to the Father – He is the Way. He did not
come with some new truth about the Godhead – He is that Truth!
He did not come to show us a better way of life – He is that Life!
Clearly we see
many ways and truths and lives in the church today; but do we see and
touch and taste the Living Christ?
This is no empty
mysticism either, my friends! I dare say that if we have not come to
fully believe and experience the Living Christ inside us, then I must
ask just what is Christianity anyway? What can it be without He
Himself dwelling within us, and expressing His Holy life through us?
This thing called sanctification is an inside job, as only it can be.
He is our life now. He sustains us in this life that He might present
us Holy and blameless to the Father in the next!
Does your life
consist in Him my brother? Does mine? Oh how I wish I could answer
that with a confident “yes”. Although others on this earth
see the old familiar us, what are they seeing really? Is it a life
hidden in Him? How much of the old self has truly died? Or is it
merely the same old us in religious garb, looking and sounding pious,
but still the same deep down?
Have we really
died, my brethren? Really? To the world and the self and to lust of
every created thing? To power and prestige? To the sound of others
praising our name? To the lure of riches and unredeemed pleasure?
Are our lives
truly hidden in Him, or do we just want others to believe this is so?
If so, then let us forsake it all, and surrender. Let us stop
pretending, for His is the Light of Pure Reality, in whom there is no darkness.
I am so sorry
dearest Lord, that I have let you down this day! That the world has
not seen You manifest in my life and person. Forgive me that I
stubbornly cling to all I know to be worthless and powerless and
vain, and still You remain hidden from them!
Shine forth in my
life, dear Lord Jesus, as the Author and Finisher of my faith!
Please pray for us
here at Living-Walk, that we would watch and see the Master at work,
and understand what He would have us do.
Your friend in
Christ Jesus,
Wayne
Copyright 2005 Livingwalk.com
Permission is
granted to share this material freely and with attribution.
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