Sunday 25 Nov 2012

Sunday Reading: Colossians 1:18-20

Key Verse: Colossians 1:18
18  And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the pre-eminence.

Devotion:
Something that we all crave for (because it seems to be built into man) is to have someone as our leader or sovereign. Even the children of Israel, after they had been delivered out of Egypt by God, still wanted a man to be their leader. They were copying the tribes and people around them, seeing how they had someone to look up to and to revere in some manner; and so they wanted someone as well. Instead of looking to God as that person they wanted a human being.

Have you ever thought about that side of the life of Jesus on earth? God allowed His Son to come to be born as a human being so that man would be able to look up to Him as King and head of the church. In congregations we do have pastors and priests who are there to preach and to teach, but that is a different role. They are there to look after that congregation because that is a position that God has given them, to be accountable for that congregation. Priests have always been accountable to God because it is their position to teach people the truth about God – if they lead people astray then they will have to answer to God!

Jesus came to earth in the form of man so that he could accomplish so much for us, not just to be a human leader we can look up to but to be the ultimate sacrifice for our debt that we owe to God because of our sin. We need to remember just who Jesus really is; without Him we would still be lost and still be having to try and find the sacrifice that would please God enough to cover our sins.

It is hard for us to realise just how much God actually knows and how much He has been willing to do for us to show us how much He cares for us. But when we start to look back and compare all that has happened with what we actually need to move forward in our relationship with Him, we find a whole string of events that has been purposed to allow us to love Him back. It has been God’s design from the beginning to allow Christ to be the sacrifice that we require so that we can have a full and eternal relationship with Him.

Points to Ponder:
Do you look to Christ as King?

Do you remember God is actually God?