Sunday Devotional: Colossians 1:15-23

“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.

And you, who once were alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds,  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,  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, and of which I, Paul, became a minister.”

Jesus is everything.  And the awesome thing is that He gave up everything so that we could be reconciled.  He came to Earth to die on the cross for our sins so that we could be redeemed.  He is the one who has rightful authority over us because of His place of rule over creation.  And He loves us so much.

This week, let us remember who Jesus is and all that He has done for us.  And let us never forget how much He loves us.

Sunday Devotional: Genesis 1:1

“In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.”  (Genesis 1:1)

The first verse of Bible says so much in so few words.  In the beginning, God was in the middle of things.  He was already there when things first began here.  There never was a time when He wasn’t there.

Besides always being there, He created everything.  It is because of Him that we exist.

So as we go about this week, let us remember the One who was, who is and who is to come.  Let us remember the One who created the heavens and the earth.  And let us remember that He loves us.  Let that encourage us this week

Thursday Quote Day: Matt Chandler

Here is another quote for “Thursday Quote Day” by pastor and author Matt Chandler:

“Everything is by Christ, through Christ, and for Christ, from human beings to elephants, from bioluminescent fish in some black cave in South America no person’s ever discovered to microbes underneath a glacier on some distant planet no person ever will. Christ is Lord over all.” (Matt Chandler The Explicit Gospel)