Jesus is Life

Jesus is Life: the Rest is just Details

This is the faded bumper sticker on the back of my car: Jesus is life: the rest is just details.
I’m not really one for bumper stickers but that is one that I am proud of.

I think it says in a few words what the Colossians 1:15-23 passage is trying to say.
 “Christ is the visible likeness of the invisible God. He is the first-born Son, firstborn of all created things. …
 God created the whole universe through him and for him.
 Christ existed before all things, and in union with him all things have their proper place.
 He is the head of his body, the church; he is the source of the body’s life.
 He is the first-born Son, who was raised from death, in order that he alone might have the first place in all things.
 For it was by God’s own decision that the Son has in himself the full nature of God.
 Through the Son, then, God decided to bring the whole universe back to himself. God made peace through his Son’s blood on the cross and so brought back to himself all things, both on earth and in heaven.”

In other words, in everything, Christ is at the heart of it, and in charge of it.

I thank God repeatedly that when I was first introduced to the Christian faith at a Scripture Union camp they were wise enough to just tell me about Jesus. Once I saw how amazing he is and welcomed him into my life, my life began to make sense. I didn’t ‘have it all together’ but I knew someone who did. I’ve never regretted joining my life to Christ in all the decades since.

But I have struggled to maintain my focus on Jesus at the centre. Many things and people in life have competed for my attention and sometimes Jesus has got sidelined. Not lost or forgotten but no longer at the centre. When that has happened, life has got horribly complicated.

Paul is writing to the Colossians in urgent tones to not sideline Jesus. Christ is central to our creation, our salvation, our church, the future of humanity.

So Jesus Christ must be central to our beliefs, but we need to keep our relationship with him fresh and focussed. It is not just a matter of belief. It is mainly a matter of practice.
We need to talk with Christ daily about the ‘stuff of life’ and reflect on what he taught us so that we can bring our lives in line with his.

Sometimes we feel as though we are good Christians at Church but we are unsure how to live as Christ followers in our homes, or in our work place. Many Christian couples have never prayed together about the important things of life because they feel awkward about praying in a home setting. The same can be said about the workplace.

Yet it is precisely here that Jesus is most helpful to us in getting our lives and priorities right.
Sometimes our praying and Bible reading is quite boring, but when we try to push together these activities with the life challenges we face every day then two things happen:
1. Our faith becomes interesting and relevant, and
2. Jesus becomes central to us. And with Jesus comes the sense of being loved, guided, challenged, and not alone.

Jesus is life: the rest is just details.

Graeme H