A word about greetings: I often think I could learn something from these greetings. How wonderful to bid someone hello by telling them you always thank God and pray for them! And what a wonderful way to let them know you are praying for them:
And so, from the day we heard, we have not ceased to pray for you, asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God. May you be strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy, giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in light.
There is a lot to learn from these verses. Now we come to the part of the passage where today's title comes from; the supremacy of Christ. This next section is so full of description that it would take me a long while to mull it over.
Christ is the image of the invisible God-thanks to Jesus we can see God. This Jesus who walked among the people of his time showed us who God is; what he is like, what he values, how he loves us, and walks with us. This was not a pillar of cloud. Jesus was a man who ate fish with his friends, This is what God is like.
For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him.
He was first, he is creator, he is God's only son. I don't know about you, but that is bigger than I can completely grasp.
How about this:
For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross.
What do I do with these thoughts? I am not certain that I can completely grasp this either. And yet, next it says that even while I was hostile or alienated, "he has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him..."
This then is something I can understand more fully..."if indeed you continue in the faith, stable and steadfast, not shifting from the hope of the gospel that you heard, which has been proclaimed in all creation under heaven..."
This is indeed something I wish to continue in.
See you tomorrow.
-maggie
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