Christ Reigns Supreme!

Happy first of the month! This is when we focus on Jesus! I was just sharing with my husband that the Christian message is under attack, not just from the world but also from professing Christians who are destroying each other. I see the battle regularly in broken relationships, failed marriages, and people thriving for power to control others. We wound each other with our lack of knowledge, lack of understanding, lack of gratitude, and lack of love. We launch attacks when folks don’t do things our way.

These are the same challenges faced by the church at Colosse and the Apostle Paul wrote to remind them to maintain their focus on Jesus Christ:

So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live in him, rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness. See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the basic principles of this world rather than on Christ. For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form, and you have been given fullness in Christ, who is the head over every power and authority. Col 2:6-10 NIV

I have been comforted greatly by this scripture this week. Sometime we don’t know what to do when life gets busy, when there are deadlines, or sickness attacks our bodies. Sometimes frustration, desperation, or depression set in. It is especially important during those times that we remember what we have received in Jesus Christ. We can live abundantly through him!

It is Christ who keeps you grounded, sustains you, and builds you up. It is Christ who strengthens your faith.

Don’t let anyone distract you or stop you from doing what Christ has called you to do, either through their hollow and deceptive philosophy (vain religion), human tradition (forcing you to fall into their way of doing things), or the basic principles of this world (what man determines to be right apart from Christ). One of my Facebook friends has recently learned this lesson when she posted, “I refuse to sit around and wait for someone else to do what God has called me to do myself, I could chose not to move but I refuse.” I ‘liked’ that post a zillion times!

Christ is in charge over every power and authority, and once we realize that, we can move forward as a result of the power of the Holy Spirit that lives within us. I met with a gentleman this week who said to me, “Natasha, the only limitations that you have are the ones that you place on yourself.”

Here’s the deal, I don’t want to be just another religious person or a spiritual person or a great churchgoer or a nice person who follows rules. I want to have all of Christ and have all of him living through me. I want to be faithful and obedient to the work that he has called me to. While I sometimes miss the mark, having Christ reign supreme in my life keeps me from being distracted with the lesser things identified in this scripture.

Why is it such a challenge to allow Christ to reign supreme? What distracts from maintaining focus on Christ?

© Natasha S. Robinson 2011

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