Be Held Together By Jesus

FYI: I am sitting on my back porch typing under a blanket. There is a chill in the air, but Spring is so close. The rain comes down softly on the new flowers I planted earlier. Steam rises from my coffee cup. Birds are singing.  The smell of fresh cut grass mixed with rain is all around me.  Life is good! It is beautiful!

Read Colossians 1:15-23
Title in NIV: The nature of Jesus Christ

I like lists. I listed the characteristics of Jesus that are sprinkled all through the bible, old and new testaments.

1) Jesus is the image of the invisible God
2) Jesus is the firstborn over all creation
3) By Jesus all things were made (Gen. 1:26 refers to 'us' and 'our')
        a) things in heaven
        b) things on earth
        c) the invisible
        d) the visible
        e) thrones
        f) powers
        g) rulers
        h) authorities
4) Jesus is before all things
5) ** In Jesus all things hold together
6) Jesus is the head of the body- the church
7) Jesus is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead
8) Jesus has supremacy in everything

God was pleased to have all his (God's) fullness dwell in Jesus and through Jesus. God made all things reconciled to him through Jesus' physical body. Reconciliation means to settle differences and become in harmony again. (More on reconciliation read: 2 Cor 5:11-6:2; Eph 2:1-22.)

All things are reconciled to God on earth and in heaven by making peace through Jesus' blood. We were alienated from God in our minds because of evil behavior. But God settled differences with us with Christ's death on the cross. God did this do Christ could present us holy without blemish and free from accusation IF you continue in your faith and don't loose hope you have from hearing the gospel.

Are you reconciled to God? Do you feel in harmony when you're being a 'good' Christian and feel out of harmony when you fail? God does not do that! We are reconciled when we believe in Jesus, not when we do good deeds. We should do good deeds because we believe and love God, but not for brownie points. Good deeds should come from a heart of love, not a heart of fear. Which motivates you?

Number 5 is very special to me. In Him all things hold together. Did you notice my new picture? (If you're not on my web page, go to   http://www.in-stepwithspirit.blogspot.com/    to see the pictures of the crosses. All things hold together in Him is more true than you may realize. I watched a video by Louie Giglio. He explained that scientist have found a protein that acts like glue that holds all our muscles and cells together. It is called laminin. Guess what this 'glue' looks like....the crosses in my picture. Look laminin up on the Internet and you can see some out-of-this-world, real photos. (You won't be disappointed)

The cross holds my family together and all of us have this necklace to remind us to look to Jesus the real glue in our lives. We look to Jesus to hold us together in difficult situations and choices in our life. We try daily to allow Jesus to hold us together instead of looking for worldly things that fade.

See how science and faith can work together!!

Verse 23 says, 'if you continue in your faith, Jesus will present us as holy to his Father. Look at John 15. He reminds us to remain in Jesus in verse 4, 5, 6, 7, 9, 10. When we remain in Him, we bear much fruit. By-the-way, 'bear much fruit' is the first command. Genesis 1:22 says, "be fruitful and increase in number...". He was talking to the fish and creatures at this point, but later he gave the same command to Adam and Eve in Genesis 1:28.

So what is the promise if you do not remain in Him? You are like a dead branch cut off and thrown away into a fire. Dead things are great for kindling in our fireplace. Don't be good kindling. Stay alive and full of life by remaining in Him. Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego were so full of life that even the fire could not burn them up.  Be like them!