Undisputed — Over Creation - Wednesday
Today’s Verse
Colossians 1:19-20
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. (NLT)
I have been humbled quite a bit in my life, and I’m sure you have too. We all have faced our fair share of failures and setbacks in our school, our career, our work, our finances, our relationships, and/or any of our many passions and desires. We have all been humbled many times.
And yet, while our humbling experiences are quite diverse, one thing they likely all have in common is that we did not choose to be humbled. We did not intentionally choose for that college to reject us, for that promotion to be given to our co-worker, or for that person to stop responding to our texts and calls. Now, yes, our life choices do sometimes result in these humbling experiences, but I’d still argue that we did not intentionally choose many of the humbling experiences that we have faced.
And yet, what we read here in Colossians is that Jesus intentionally humbled himself.
Paul has established in this letter to the church in Colossae that Jesus is the visible image of the invisible God, the Lord over creation, and the creator God Himself. But here, in Colossians 1:19-20, Paul tells us that this mighty God gladly chose to humble Himself by living as a man.
Jesus not only willingly humbled Himself, but He gladly humbled Himself. Taking on a human body, just like the many He had created. But it was not just the act of taking on a human body that Jesus gladly chose to do. Jesus also gladly chose to humble Himself by allowing His body to be beaten, allowing His blood to be poured out, and allowing Himself to be put to death on a cross.
Jesus was pleased to leave His throne and to be murdered in a most cruel way. Jesus gladly humbled Himself, something we would rarely do.
Jesus did this to make peace with everything in heaven and on earth. Jesus gladly humbled Himself by dying on the cross to restore His creation, to find the lost and heal the broken, and to make our relationship with God right again. Jesus made peace through immense conflict that He gladly chose.
This truth humbles me daily. It stirs my soul to humbly approach God with thanksgiving and praise. That is the only response I can find.
REFLECTION
I encourage you to intentionally humble yourself today before God. To thank Jesus for the sacrifice He gladly chose to make so that our relationship with Him could be restored.