Recovery Devotional 273 The Reason Behind all Existence

JMD Devotional 273 Colossians 1:17 The Reason Behind all Existence

And He Himself existed before all things, and in Him all things consist (cohere, are held together).

We all want to know the answers to the BIG questions: where did we come from, why are we here, what is our destiny, why are things the way they are…???...etc.

The Bible tells us that it is all about God. The one sensible thing I remember that John Lennon said in the 1960s is that “God is the reason we exist”. The scriptures unfold a story in which an all-powerful and all-knowing God wanted to create creatures that could know Him. But to create a being that has the capacity to know, love, accept and seek freely; God had to also provide that being the capacity to refuse knowledge, to hate, to reject, and to retreat. The origin of the story of humanity begins in a lush garden and ends in the wasteland of a primal broken relationship: man alienated from God. Humanity failed their first test of loyalty; and in suffering and hard toil they procreate offspring that is in substance no better than themselves. But knowing that regret would accompany rebellion; that the soul of man would never be satisfied apart from fellowship with Him, God begot a Son outside the stream of man’s will and nature by the virgin birth of Jesus Christ. A narrow way was paved to return to God and to restore our broken relationship. But the capacity to reject that salvation is as real as our original sin: restoration is for those who will accept and receive it. We exist for fellowship with God, and this is the story of us all.

Colossians 1:13-19 (AMP) [The Father] has delivered and drawn us to Himself out of the control and the dominion of darkness and has transferred us into the kingdom of the Son of His love, in Whom we have our redemption through His blood, [which means] the forgiveness of our sins. [Now] He is the exact likeness of the unseen God [the visible representation of the invisible]; He is the Firstborn of all creation. For it was in Him that all things were created, in heaven and on earth, things seen and things unseen, whether thrones, dominions, rulers, or authorities; all things were created and exist through Him [by His service, intervention] and in and for Him. And He Himself existed before all things, and in Him all things consist (cohere, are held together). He also is the Head of [His] body, the church; seeing He is the Beginning, the Firstborn from among the dead, so that He alone in everything and in every respect might occupy the chief place [stand first and be preeminent]. For it has pleased [the Father] that all the divine fullness (the sum total of the divine perfection, powers, and attributes) should dwell in Him permanently.

Dear God,

All of the negative things I feel: anxiety, fear, loneliness, pain; are signals telling me that something is wrong with my Universe. The Cosmos is not what’s broken; but I am. I have tried to be my own god; but I am all-needy; and You are all sufficient. You have rolled out the red carpet, stained in blood; the welcome mat is out, the door is open; please usher me into Your presence, fellowship and good graces through Christ. I do not know why I am inclined to go wrong; but thank You for giving me second chances and forgiveness.

Amen

All (but*) quotes are from The Amplified Bible, published by

the Lockman Foundation. (AMP)

Copyright © 1954, 1958, 1962, 1964, 1965, 1987 by The Lockman Foundation

*New International Version (NIV)

Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society

**Scripture taken from The Message. Copyright © 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002. Used by permission of NavPress Publishing Group. (Eugene Peterson's easy-to-read, contemporary Scripture translation)

I originally produced these blogs between 2006 and 2007, which were then published in my book, JMD Recovery Devotionals. In 2010, I am sending these out to a few people as I review them and see if my point of view has changed.

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