Friends in Christ Weekly Message
July 17, 2004

     We look at this Son and see the God who cannot be seen. We look at this Son and see God's original purpose in everything created. For everything, absolutely everything, above and below, visible and invisible, rank after rank after rank of angels - everything got started in him and finds its purpose in him. He was there before any of it came into existence and holds it all together right up to this moment. And when it comes to the church, he organizes and holds it together, like a head does a body.
     He was supreme in the beginning and - leading the resurrection parade - he is supreme in the end. From beginning to end he's there, towering far above everything, everyone. So spacious is he, so roomy, that everything of God finds its proper place in him without crowding. Not only that, but all the broken and dislocated pieces of the universe - people and things, animals and atoms - get properly fixed and fit together in vibrant harmonies, all because of his death, his blood that poured down from the Cross.
     You yourselves are a case study of what he does. At one time you all had your backs turned to God, thinking rebellious thoughts of him, giving him trouble every chance you got. But now, by giving himself completely at the Cross, actually dying for you, Christ brought you over to God's side and put your lives together, whole and holy in his presence. You don't walk away from a gift like that! You stay grounded and steady in that bond of trust, constantly tuned in to the Message, careful not to be distracted or diverted. There is no other Message - just this one. Every creature under heaven gets this same Message. I, Paul, am a messenger of this Message.
Colossians 1:15-23 (Message*)

At the center is Jesus Christ, the Son of God. All of creation started in Him. And He is the head of the whole church, beyond denominations and all the other separations within it. His is the mesage that is available to all.

He has given us the most precious gift. We need to stay grounded in Him, and not to be distracted by the many things of this world or by other spiritualities.

We each need to prayerfully consider this each day. Am I firmly grounded in Christ? Am I putting aside everything that would distract me from His life in me? Have a blessed week.

Bill Samuel

* The Message version ©2002 by Eugene H. Peterson.

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