My Reminder for the Day:

God is not in all things merely because he is in all things. God is in all things because he is supreme OVER all things.


"15 Christ is the visible image of the invisible God.
He existed before anything was created and is supreme over all creation,

16 for through him God created everything
in the heavenly realms and on earth.
He made the things we can see
and the things we can’t see—
such as thrones, kingdoms, rulers, and authorities in the unseen world.
Everything was created through him and for him.
17 He existed before anything else,
and he holds all creation together.
18 Christ is also the head of the church,
which is his body.
He is the beginning,
supreme over all who rise from the dead.
So he is first in everything.
19 For God in all his fullness
was pleased to live in Christ,
20 and through him God reconciled
everything to himself.
He made peace with everything in heaven and on earth
by means of Christ’s blood on the cross.

21 This includes you who were once far away from God. You were his enemies, separated from him by your evil thoughts and actions. 22 Yet now he has reconciled you to himself through the death of Christ in his physical body. As a result, he has brought you into his own presence, and you are holy and blameless as you stand before him without a single fault."

—Colossians 1:15-22 (NLT, emphasis added)

We don't worship a God in creation. We worship a God of creation, a God who's idea it was

to create creation in the first place. And according to this scripture, our correct view of him in our worship isn't just for him (we can't do anything to add to him anyways). It's also not just a theological exercise to puff ourselves up around one another. It's to understand his

supremacy over our lives as the created. This is to understand his supremacy over our salvation—our security in being made right with God. If he is seen as outside of creation as the supreme master of it, and his will is to "reconcile all things to himself" surely he works outside of creation for the benefit of it. The scripture not only says he created all things but it also says he "holds all creation together." And as part of his creation, we are also being held together by his supreme hand. This points towards his supremacy over our sanctification—our security in being made more like Christ practically.

With this said, I do like the interjection from a gospel artist, who recently being stuck between a rock and a hard place artistically, articulated, "We’ve

limited Christianity to salvation and sanctification. Christianity is the truth about everything. If you say you have a Christian worldview, that means you see the world through that lens—not just how people get saved and what to stay away from...Christians need to embrace that there need to be believers talking about love and social issues and all other aspects of life." This truth of God's supremacy over creation affects everything! Specifically us, but not just us. After Paul's explanation of the supremacy of Christ he says, "This includes you who were once far away from God." He did not say "This means you" or "This is referring to

you." He said "This includes you." Surely he holds us in highest regard in relationship to the creation—why else would he create us in his image, give us dominion, and call us to rule the earth and subdue it?—but we are not all that his redemption plan affects. The rest happens through us, by him, once we've been changed. I believe that the redemption of all creation is manifested downward from the order that God has established from the beginning, first to the sons of God by Christ's saving work on the cross, and second, that work spreading out to the rest of creation from the redeemed sons of God, Jesus ultimately being the "first" of course (Romans 8:19-22).

Because of syntax, the New Living Translation can almost sound like all things in the earth have already been made right by Christ's death on the cross. I like how the New King James Version reads in verses 19-20 of Colossians. It points to the "It is finished" of Christ on the cross, but still exposes the unraveling process of his victory in the verb tenses, "For it pleased the Father that in Him all the fullness should dwell, and by Him to reconcile all things to Himself, by Him, whether things on earth or things in heaven, having made peace through the blood of His cross." This is his plan. This is his power. This is our God.

I didn't know this! Did you?

I've been reading Richard Foster's Freedom of Simplicity and it has been ministering! Anywho, while I was reading this book something caught me off guard, and it was so good I wanted to share it.

“Your eye is a lamp that provides light for your body. When your eye is good, your whole body is filled with light." (Matthew 6:22 NLT)

I always used to view this passage with a lot of ambiguity. Whether I read it on my own, or in the context of a bible study with other believers I'd always be left saying, "Ok Jesus, so you're telling me to make sure my eyes are good? Thanks that's really descriptive and helpful...(sarcastic tone)." But apparently it was a miscommunication (I've been learning a lot about these as I've been on the road to marriage, but that's another post). It looks like God had an intention that was clearly explained and everything I wanted and needed to know from the passage was always there. I just didn't take the time to find it.

I never knew this, did you?:

In the conditional phrase "when your eye is good," the word for "good" in the King James Version is "single." I looked it up and the original Greek word is haplous which apparently means simple, single, whole, good fulfilling it's office, or sound.

So how does this affect the application of the passage? Well, we could retranslate it to say something like, "Your eye is a lamp that provides light for your body. When your eye is simple and whole (focused on one thing, the thing that it was designed to focus on, which fulfills its office), your whole body is filled with light. (Matthew 6:22 NLT)

So what do we focus on? If you've been indoctrinated, in any sense of the word, to Christian culture, the answer might have blurted out of your mouth already, "Well, Jesus of course!" And to that I respond with a resounding, "Yes! You're right!" Here's another question? What is the context and how does it affect our understanding and application?

“Don’t store up treasures here on earth, where moths eat them and rust destroys them, and where thieves break in and steal. Store your treasures in heaven, where moths and rust cannot destroy, and thieves do not break in and steal. Wherever your treasure is, there the desires of your heart will also be."(Matthew 6:19-21 NLT)

[...]

“No one can serve two masters. For you will hate one and love the other; you will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money. “That is why I tell you not to worry about everyday life—whether you have enough food and drink, or enough clothes to wear. Isn’t life more than food, and your body more than clothing?" (Matthew 6:24-25 NLT)

So the in the context, Jesus is preaching about money, and more generally possessions and the idols of this world. The good news is that it appears that Jesus' call to us is not so much about picking up some new command (spending time worrying about whether our eyes are good), but rather it's about letting go and living singlemindedly on the kingdom. Simply, in the Freedom of Simplicity....

How about that? 

A Romans 5:9 Kinda Day

I think today (May 9th) is a good reminder of Romans 5:9, "Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath through him!"

...which wouldn't make too much sense without the context of my yesterday, Romans 5:8, "But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ  died for us."

I'm walking into today grateful and expectant!

Psalm 37:7-17

7 Rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for Him;

The word for "rest" can also mean "to be silent, to be still or die, to be struck dumb."The word for "wait patiently" can also mean "twist, dance, writhe, or wait anxiously." This command is telling us to be silent even when it hurts. It's telling us to die to ourselves and be still as we wait for God in a way that makes our flesh get anxious. But the next command is...

Do not fret because of him who prospers in his way,
Because of the man who brings wicked schemes to pass.
8 Cease from anger, and forsake wrath;
Do not fret—it only causes harm.

So we wait on God in a way our flesh doesn't like. We may suffer in the waiting process; we may get anxious. But the second command says do not fret. It's only gonna bring a negative result. Why should I not fret? Here's the promise:

9 For evildoers shall be cut off;
But those who wait on the Lord,
They shall inherit the earth.
10 For yet a little while and the wicked shall be no more;
Indeed, you will look carefully for his place,
But it shall be no more.
11 But the meek shall inherit the earth,
And shall delight themselves in the abundance of peace.

Where there was waiting patiently (writhing), there is now peace. The specific thing we want is not always promised, but delighting ourselves in peace is. Verse 4 of this Psalm says "Delight yourself also in the LORD, And He shall give you the desires of your heart." When our hearts are aligned with the Fathers (aka when we ask for things in Jesus' name) we ask and it is simply given to us. But our hearts are wicked and deceitful; when we're off God always has the freedom to pull the "I'm sovereign" card and say "I see that you want this, but I have something for you that's even better in the long run." But that's a thought for another time. The main thing about these verses here is that it is promised that we will "delight [ourselves] in the abundance of peace."

Knowing the end result of this promise, that is peace in the best way, we can apply it to our present situation by faith because it is the Word of God. Remember "now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen" and "faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God." And in case our faith needs some boosting, the Psalmist adds an illustration:

12 The wicked plots against the just,
And gnashes at him with his teeth.
13 The Lord laughs at him,
For He sees that his day is coming.

Place your perspective where God's is. He knows their end, and He also knows yours. Though we don't always know the day or time, yes, we're allowed to have that confidence.

14 The wicked have drawn the sword
And have bent their bow,
To cast down the poor and needy,
To slay those who are of upright conduct.
15 Their sword shall enter their own heart,
And their bows shall be broken.

They even aim to destroy the upright in their place of prosperity. Because of the greed of their heart, their very own weapons will become their downfall. We may not have everything we want right now. We may not even have what we think we need to be obedient to what He's called us to do. But we can be sure of our fate. What we have now, God will use for His glory, no matter how small. He fed the 5,000 with two fishes and five loaves.

16 A little that a righteous man has
Is better than the riches of many wicked.
17 For the arms of the wicked shall be broken,
But the Lord upholds the righteous.

 AMEN.

So remain in constant war with the wickedness of your own heart. The part of you that makes you writhe while you wait patiently. Seek out true humility, then you will inherit the earth.