God's
Trinity created the universe and everything and everyone in it since before the
foundation of time (Genesis 1:26). He even instituted all of the nations, even
those that are no longer here, and He set the kings and rulers in their place
of authority (Colossians 1:16).
This
all occurred by Christ, and for His use and glory. Jesus existed as the Christ
before anything began, and it is His power and authority that hold everything
together (Colossians 1:17; 1 John 4:15). Therefore, God exalted Him to the
highest place and gave Him a name above all names (Philippians 2:9-10).
Mankind
throughout the ages makes a habit of defaming the name of Jesus Christ. They
curse His name, deny His existence and ignore His power. They disregard Him
until something goes wrong in their life, and then they freely blame Him for
all of their troubles.
Yet,
when life is sweet and they are prospering, they rarely, if ever, give Him the
credit or gratitude that He deserves. Their spirit is dead in their sin, and
they have no spiritual eyes or ears (Ephesians 1:18; Matthew 11:15). Their life
is finite and subjective.
There
is also a disturbing trend in the church today. Although God exalted Jesus, we
often fail to exalt Him to the highest place in our life. We forget to live the
example before the world that He makes a difference in our existence (Matthew
5:16).
He
is the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before
Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and then He sat down at the right
hand of our Heavenly Father (Hebrews 12:2). Yet, we relegate Him to the back
seat of our life.
There
will come a time and place, however, when every knee - those in Heaven, in
hell, and on the earth - will confess that Jesus is the Christ and our Lord (Romans
14:11; Philippians 2:11). For all of eternity, we will
give Him His rightful esteem and glorify Him above all else.
Prayer:
Father
God, remind us that surrendering our sinful nature to You, and inviting Jesus
to move into our spirit, are the first steps in experiencing eternal hope. You
created human beings so that our thoughts influence our actions, which helps to
convince the beliefs of other people in our sphere of influence. This encourages
the truth to spread throughout the world.
Loving
You with our whole heart, mind, soul and strength allows Your eternal light of
hope to shine through us (Mark 12:30). You exhort us that exalting Jesus to the
highest place in our life, our marriage, our family, and our church is the
second step to a fulfilling life. This allows us to fall in love with Christ's
presence within us as we abide in eternal hope.
Thought
for the Day:
If
we develop a close, personal relationship with Jesus, then everyone will see
our good works, that come from our faith in Him, and will glorify our Father in
heaven; then, the name of our Lord Jesus Christ may be glorified in us as a
testimony to His goodness, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus
Christ.
-
2 Thessalonians 1: 12; Matthew 5:16
