Experience Jesus

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 fo 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.  Colossians 1:15-20

I love Jan Henderson, our CBS teaching leader.  She has the most amazing mind and the most amazing walk with Christ of anyone I've ever known.  She has a way of taking what I know about Christianity and turning it on its head, and I love that about her.

So today she spoke on Colossians1:15-2:7.  I won't be able to do justice to everything she said, but I'll try to highlight a few points she made that especially struck me.

She began by saying that many people's interest in Christianity wanes when they realize that Christianity is really all about JESUS, not about themselves.  It's all about Him, not about what He does for us or what we get from the bargain.  What we get from the bargain is significant!  But we are not the point.  He is the point.

But she went on to talk about how hard it is to communicate spiritual realities with clumsy words.  But it is not about the Word, or words.  It is only about Jesus.  Jesus is God's communication to us, and the purpose of the Word is that we know Him, not that we know the Word.  In knowing Jesus we experience the fullness of God.  Learning things about Jesus is useless without knowing Jesus Himself.  Do not be so in love with the Word that you miss knowing Jesus, she warned.

She related her experience in Costa Rica just last week.  Apparently she had painful encounters with no fewer than three scorpions, one on her face!  That 5-inch sucker had sneaked its way between her pillow and pillowcase, and made its presence known when she rolled over!  Jan pointed out that no reading about scorpions could compare with the firsthand knowledge she now possessed about them.  =)  And it's the same with Jesus.  No reading about Him can compare with knowing Him, with experiencing Him firsthand.  Words cannot adequately convey spiritual realities.

I'm pooped.  Time for bed.  I am not even sure this thought was complete or coherent, but I wanted to get it down before the night is over.  This discipline of blogging about one verse a day has been a real blessing to me.  Through it God has spoken to me in ways I could never have imagined or expected.

See you tomorrow!