Scripture:

“We look at this Son and see the God who cannot be seen. We look at this Son and see God’s original purpose in everything created. For everything, absolutely everything, above and below, visible and invisible, rank after rank after rank of angels—everything got started in him and finds its purpose in him. He was there before any of it came into existence and holds it all together right up to this moment. And when it comes to the church, he organizes and holds it together, like a head does a body. He was supreme in the beginning and—leading the resurrection parade—he is supreme in the end. From beginning to end he’s there, towering far above everything, everyone. So spacious is he, so roomy, that everything of God finds its proper place in him without crowding. Not only that, but all the broken and dislocated pieces of the universe—people and things, animals and atoms—get properly fixed and fit together in vibrant harmonies, all because of his death, his blood that poured down from the cross.” Colossians 1:15-20 (MSG)

Perspective:

What happens when we are celebrating Christmas and that child who promised to come home, doesn’t?  What happens when we get that unwelcome call on Christmas Eve?  Does it change the fact that Jesus holds everything together?  No.

God coming to earth in the form of his Son is a divine miracle. He could have come as a king, entering truimphantly. He could have come for a weekend, done his job, and ascended. But, instead, Jesus came that we might find the one thing missing in our lives. We needed to find someone or something that could hold it all together. In Jesus, we see the One who holds it all together. The older we get, sometimes we mistakenly think that we hold it all together. We think that we are the ones that “make it happen.” We can’t even fathom how great his power and how mighty his hand. We don’t hold our lives together; God does. How do we explain things not working out as we wanted? God has given us the opportunities to rely on him and not solely rely on ourselves. Sometimes we have to lean hard into Jesus to be reminded that everything fits together in Him. Christmas is so much more than a baby in a manager. It isn’t about some helpless baby that the world almost forgot to notice. Christmas is about an all powerful God coming to this world through lowly means to save a sinner like me. We can’t remember the manager without remembering the sacrifice. And, we can’t remember Christmas without worshiping Jesus.

Scripture taken from THE MESSAGE. Copyright © 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002.  Used by permission of NavPress Publishing Group.


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