a healthy reality check

(by Pastor Joe)

The Word for today: Colossians 1:15-23

Maybe it was at the Grand Canyon. Maybe at the Niagara Gorge. Perhaps it occurred from the top of a very tall building, or from inside an airplane. Maybe it was looking out from the beach of the ocean shore. I am talking about the moment(s) when you were reminded that this world is pretty big and that you are very small in comparison. For me, I remember hiking a couple of mountains in New Hampshire and once again starting to grasp how fragile and fleeting my life is, compared to the majestic summits of the White Mountains. (And to think that these guys are just small fries compared with the towering mountains of the world.)

Those moments in life are so valuable and necessary, because without them we can insidiously believe that we are not only invincible, but also the center of our own little universe.

Today's passage is perhaps the spiritual Everest in helping us to gain some humble perspective of Jesus Christ. It's high and lofty and intimidating and mysterious all at the same time.

Just consider the word "all" in this passage, especially in verses 15-20.
He is first over ALL creation and He is creator of ALL things.
ALL things exist for Him and He holds ALL things together.
He has supremacy in ALL things because God was pleased to have ALL His fullness dwell in Him. Therefore, He is able to, and will reconcile ALL things to Himself.

I have a hard enough time understanding the "some" that I do know, I cannot begin to fathom the "all."

I guess when it comes down to is that I know less about God than my kids. I know less about Jesus Christ than I did last year. In fact, my understanding concerning who God is gets less and less as time goes by.

How is that possible?

What I mean is, that as I age and grow in my knowledge of and relationship with Jesus Christ, the more I know that I don't know. The more I see that I have just scratched at the surface of His Majesty and Glory. Just when I think I've got Him figured out, the bottom falls out and I realize that I have that much more to go.

Today- I urge you to make yourself small, not by beating up on yourself, but by giving yourself a necessary reality check by placing yourself side by side with Jesus. For only in that place of humility do we really begin to see accurately who we are and what life is about.

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