Variety: Colossians 1v18

‘…so that he might come to have first place in everything.’  COLOSSIANS 1:18

Since NASA first began releasing them in 2022, the pictures coming back from the James Webb space telescope have been breathtaking, showing the sheer scale and beauty of our universe. To be useful, though, the images have to be razor-sharp. So, to ensure no opportunity is ever lost, there is a constant process of recalibration going on, involving tiny adjustments to the precision-engineered lenses and instruments.

As Christians, it’s easy to lose our focus, to allow the world around us, with its norms and expectations, to dominate how we think and act. That’s why the weekly pattern of coming together as a local church is so important. It recalibrates us so we can keep our focus on Jesus.

Colossians 1 contains some of the most beautiful and profound statements of who Jesus is. He is the image of the invisible God; the one for whom, by whom and in whom everything was made; and he has authority over everything, including his church. All this culminates in the stunning reason, ‘so that he might come to have first place in everything’ (v18).

In other words, Jesus is supreme over everything. Pre-eminence means being number one, with absolutely no-one above him. Authorities, cultures, and contexts are ultimately under his supreme rule, whether they acknowledge it or not. But it’s easy to forget this, to forget that the world around us is not all there is; that the things that command our attention and demand our loyalty day-to-day have a greater and better master. 

Jesus is pre-eminent in everything. Whether it’s in the workplace, walking the dog or waiting at the school gates, in all those places Jesus is Lord, supreme in all we do and everywhere we are.

When we gather to hear God’s word, sing his praises, receive reminders of Jesus’ death and resurrection in bread and wine, we’re pointed once more to him. It prepares us to see the world we’re part of with renewed eyes, to scatter back into our everyday places reminded that Jesus’ supremacy reaches even there.

The gospel is the lens through which we’re to see all of life. And when the things that make up our scattered lives dull our focus and cause us to become unaligned to him, time together refocuses our gaze on Jesus again, recalibrating us to who we are in him. Then, when we most need to see with Christ-centred, gospel-sharp focus, we’ll be ready.

Jules Gadsby, London Institute for Contemporary Christianity