“He existed before anything else, and He holds all creation together. Christ is also the head of the church, which is His body. He is the beginning, supreme over all who rise from the dead. So He is first in everything.” (Colossians 1:17-18 NLT)
There has never been an age of civilization over which the Lord Jesus wasn’t Lord and King. If we want to catch a glimpse of how the world was operated completely under Jesus’ Lordship, we need only to look at the garden before man’s fall. The chaos, anxiety, and fear we face today isn’t God’s idea, it’s the result of fallen mankind following the dictates of their fallen nature rather than submitting to the Lord’s authority.
Sometimes I almost laugh out loud when I hear someone speaking about a particular political frame of reference, speaking as though the whole answer to the world’s problems is to align with the “right” political way of thinking. Friends, may I assure you the government will never be able to solve the world’s problems, they’re too busy creating more problems. On many levels corrupt governments can’t solve the problems because they ARE the problem.
To put our trust in men (mankind) is to set ourselves up for a huge disappointment. The irony is, on many levels the Church isn’t in much better shape than the world. We’d rather bicker about points of doctrine than follow the Lord’s directives to protect those unable to protect themselves and be about our Father’s business of extending Christ’s Kingdom rather than our own.
John Stonestreet wrote: “Historically, the Church’s shining moments have often come in direct conflict with dominant cultural beliefs and practice. The Roman world needed Christians to take in abandoned children and oppose the gladiatorial games, precisely because the pressure was enormous to do exactly the opposite. When we engage with culturally acceptable causes but ‘stay in our lane’ on unpopular ones, we fail the tests of courage and integrity. It also exposes a Church that loves the approval of our neighbors more than we love them, and wants to fill pews more than practice what is good and true.”
Dutch statesman and theologian Abraham Kuyper put it best: ‘There is not a square inch in the whole domain of our human existence over which Christ, who is Sovereign over all, does not cry, “Mine!”’ In other words, because the head of the Church is Christ, who is Lord of everything, Christ’s lane is the entire cosmos.”
We’re tempted to believe the world’s problems are too big for anyone to handle – the governments, the church, even God, but they’re not. One day they WILL be solved, much to the displeasure of the vast majority of humans. Because of Jesus we’re given insight into who God is, how He thinks, and what His plans for mankind entail.
Colossians1:19-20 says: “For God in all His fullness was pleased to live in Christ, and through Him God reconciled everything to Himself. He made peace with everything in heaven and on earth by means of Christ’s blood on the cross.” How do we experience that peace? One person at a time.
Dr. Robert Schuller often said: “inch by inch anything’s a cinch.” The church’s role in society is to be salt and light, creating a thirst in the hearts and minds of lost people to see the beauty of Jesus which is beyond anything this world can offer. When we begin to understand our role in that process the world will look a lot less scary, and our lives will be lived in a much greater atmosphere of peace, love, and joy.
Food for thought.
Blessings, Ed 😊
Walking With Jesus 