Jesus is Keeping it Together for Us
He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation.
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.
And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together.
And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent.
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.
Remember this was written before the 100s. The Apostle Paul was conveying how awesome Jesus is, and used a ton of idioms and examples to show it. Firstborn, creator, thrones and rulers, all meant different things to him than they mean to us.
But God doesn’t change, and He wants to be revealed and known by people in 100 AD, 1000 AD, and 2000 AD. There is a protein called laminin that is the binding substance of our cells. It “holds all things together” as far as our cells are concerned, and it’s shaped like a cross. That is pretty awesome.
In your everyday life, you can see other ways that “in Him all things hold together.” Jesus is at work in the lives of people that follow Him to transform and to change them from the inside out. Not just making them look right on the outside, but sometimes invisible, shaping them on the inside.
Holding forgiveness in a wife and repentance in a husband to hold a marriage together.
Holding wisdom in a teacher and humility in a student to hold a classroom together.
Holding perseverance in a parent of an adult child with addictions to hold a family together.
Holding compassion in a children’s ministry leader to hold a kid’s future together.
Holding hope in the life of a family while one of them lies in a hospital bed to hold their life together.
Jesus is at work. Even when we think things are falling apart, He’s holding everything together. Sometimes it takes a microscope, sometimes it takes patience, and sometimes we don’t actually see it at all.
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