January 9th, 2025
15 The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. 16 For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him. 17 He is before all things, and in him all things hold together.
It's a brand new year! If you're like most of us, a new year tends to light new desires or perhaps a renewed focus on things we deem important. It is likely what prompts our minds to make resolutions of items we are going to commit to and take seriously this year. There can be great merit in doing something like this. Every time January 1st rolls around the calendar, we have the opportunity to take charge of our lives in a fresh way and dedicate our time to doing things better than we did the year prior. Although we tend to fall short of these resolutions most of the time, at least we can recognize every year that there are things in our life that need improvement. One of those things will always be the state of our spiritual development.
There is no better mindset than to start a new year by keeping the first things first. If we have determined to better ourselves this year it cannot start anywhere else other than ensuring Christ is our main priority. Perhaps you have made a mental list of all the things that are important to you in 2025. I wonder where you have placed the Lord Jesus Christ? Where is Bible reading on that list or time for prayer and worship? However you have categorized that list will certainly define how the rest of your year will play out. If we truly want significant change to our lives and to develop far greater than our 2024 year, we absolutely need to fortify Christ as our sole priority each and every day.
I am sure we are not the only people in the world to tell you to "put Jesus first". However, there is a reason this saying is so popular; it's because it's true and necessary for the sustainability of our Christian lives. Paul writes to the Colossians in a dramatic yet theologically profound manner in chapter 1. He doesn't simply present the cliché to us and move on. He gloriously defines the nature of God's one and only Son. He proves to us in every conceivable way why Christ deserves to be the centre of our universe. And that if Christ not be at the centre of our existence, every other thing we touch is virtually meaningless. Our lives are to be miraculously held and bound by the work of Christ in our hearts. The world we see and even the spirit realm that is unseen would cease to exist if Christ were not holding it all together. And so, we are wonderfully reminded today just as the children in Sunday school sing that the Lord has the whole world in His hands.
We should realize that the reason we struggle to keep Jesus Christ as our sole priority throughout the year is because we are somehow subtly convinced that we are now in charge of our own world. That in some shape or fashion we can control the playing out of our destinies. Therefore, we go about our lives in our own way. We set the pace and we tell God what should happen to us. But you need to read the words of Paul carefully. He says to us that "all things have been created through him and for him". This life we have been granted is not our own. We have been bought with a price, purchased by the precious blood of Jesus that we might glorify and honour God with our lives (1 Corinthians 6:19-20). We need to reverse our mindset and recalibrate our understanding of Jesus Christ. We do not possess Him, He in fact possesses us. We are His chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation and God's own possession. And our chief duty is to proclaim the praises of Him who called us out of darkness into His marvelous light (1 Peter 2:9). Christ must be our sole priority this year not because I say so, but because we understand that there would be no life without Him.
Cast your minds upon Christ today and for the rest of this year. Determine now that each week will be dependent upon His gracious hand of guidance and His holy Word. Teach your soul to abide in Him. Apart from Christ we can do nothing but in Him we can bear fruit and much fruit (John 15:4). Who is in charge of your life today? Who has all rights and authority over your decisions and behaviour? Who is holding your entire life together? I pray and hope your answer today is not anyone else but the Lord Jesus Christ.