Late afternoon is “Triscuit time,” when Diane shares Triscuits spread with cream cheese with our dog Ferdie. She sips wine and I have whatever “Lutheran lemonade” happens to be for the end of my day. We talk – Diane and I, not Ferdie – and watch the news, especially political happenings of the day. Some people call this “Happy Hour,” and during yesterday’s time I was searching for a happy Bible passage, something to make me feel better. I was, like Martha, “troubled about many things” (Luke 10:41), but every passage that came to mind also came with an invitation. For example, “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28). Instead of sitting still with your problems, go to Jesus. “One thing is necessary” (Luke 10:42).
“He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent. For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross.”
Whoa, my faith in Jesus is too small! He was before creation. He created all things. The food that grows for us to eat, Earth in its dependable orbit around the Sun, the Milky Way in the universe… He holds it all together. And the Church, my congregation and denomination, sinners and saints… He’s the only Head, who took our sins to the cross, rose and ascended to preeminence above all things. Does your attitude keep narrowing down to the small things of daily life, instead of seeing the cosmic Christ behind all the small stuff?
“When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. But he laid his right hand on me, saying, ‘Fear not, I am the first and the last, and the living one. I died, and behold I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of Death and Hades’” (Revelation 1:17-18).
Attitude readjustment hour. “In Him all things hold together.” Don’t sweat the small stuff.
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