Get Focused 2: Christ First

Colossians 1.15-23 [New English Translation]

Is Jesus first in your life now? If he isn’t, what’s keeping him from being first in your life? Paul’s letter to the Christ-followers in Colossae has a lot to say to us about putting Christ first in our lives.

Colossians 1.15-20 is believed to have been a hymn that Paul simply
incorporated into his letter to the Colossians; it’s something of a
creed. It’s a beautiful piece that says Jesus is above everything else.

Jesus is the image of the invisible God
If you want to know what God is like, look at Jesus. See Hebrews 1.1-4

Jesus is the firstborn over all creation
Jesus is not just before, but over. He’s supreme.

He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all
creation, for all things in heaven and on earth were created by him—all
things, whether visible or invisible, whether thrones or dominions,
whether principalities or powers—all things were created through him
and for him. He himself is before all things and all things are held
together in him.

Jesus is the head of the body
He is the head of the
body, the church, as well as the beginning, the firstborn from among
the dead so that he himself may become first in all things.

Jesus is not only the firstborn over all creation; he is also the
firstborn from among the dead. Jesus rose from death; therefore, we
have hope, too. We will be resurrected from the dead, if we center our
lives around Jesus in this life. Jesus said, "seek first the kingdom of
God and his righteousness" (Matthew 6.33).

Jesus reconciles creation to God
For God was pleased to
have all his fullness dwell in the Son and through him to reconcile all
things to himself by making peace through the blood of his
cross—through him, whether things on earth or things in heaven.

Getting reconciled with God

Realize that you are hopeless without Christ
And you were at one time strangers and enemies in your minds as expressed through your evil deeds …

Put your hope in Christ alone for your salvation

but now he has reconciled you by his physical body through death to
present you holy, without blemish, and blameless before him—if indeed
you remain in the faith, established and firm, without shifting from
the hope of the gospel that you heard.

John 15.5-8

God
has offered reconciliation: have you been reconciled to God? Christ
deserves to be first in our lives: will you make him first in your life?

May
Christ, who has reconciled you with himself, make you holy in every way
so that he may present you holy, without blemish, and blameless before
God. He will do this if indeed you remain in the faith, established and
firm, without shifting from the hope of the gospel that you heard! Amen.

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