The Essential JesusSample

It's All About Jesus

PRAY: God, I ask that you would open my eyes to see something new about your Son today.

READ: Colossians 1:15-23

REFLECT: We had several cans of concentrated grape juice in our pantry for a long time. It looked like regular grape juice, but if we forgot it was concentrate and tried to drink straight from the can, we'd have a hard time swallowing it.

In a way, that's what our passage today is like; it's concentrated truth about Jesus, and you may have had a hard time swallowing everything you read. That's okay. We're covering this passage now because, in just a few verses, it introduces us to several major themes about Jesus that we'll be exploring in our journey through the Bible.

The apostle Paul wrote the book of Colossians to counteract the impact some false teachers were having on the new believers in the city of Colossae. These teachers devised complicated schemes describing how people should relate to God. It sounded impressive, but something important was missing: Jesus. Theology, teaching, and our view of the church are vital to the Christian faith. They've missed the point if Jesus is not at the center of them all.

To correct the problem, Paul offers a concentrated description of Jesus that echoes some of the things we've already discovered. The main point is that Jesus is God (vv. 15, 19; see also Colossians 2:9), and he is woven into the fabric of all creation (vv. 16-17). Paul builds on this foundation with two new insights that add to our picture of Jesus. First, Jesus is the head of the church (v. 18). If you eliminate the head, the body dies. Second, Jesus is the key to the good news (vv. 20-23). Without him, we are still alienated from God.

Churches today are still plagued by false teaching. Instead of wasting energy attacking or arguing, we would do well to follow Paul's example; he started with the positive (Colossians 1:3-14) and then said, in effect, "Let's get back to basics. It's all about Jesus."

APPLY: In your opinion, what are "the basics" about Jesus? Are there any claims about Jesus that you've found hard to swallow?

PRAY: Thank you, God, that you made a way for me to have a relationship with you, and that way is Jesus.