The Medium is the Message

“He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have supremacy. For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross” (Colossians 1:15-20).

As a teen I would pick up a Bible from time to time and try to read something out of it. I was always perplexed as I read a bunch of jumbled stories and teachings that seemed to make no sense at all. “How can anyone say this book is God’s word?” I thought. Does God expect the average teen to be able to make sense of all these random stories and sayings? It all seemed like a strange mystery to me, until one day it seemed that someone had given me a key to the mystery. It was like I understood for the first time what the apostle Paul was saying in the verses above. I finally understood that all of these stories and sayings were pointing to the One who unlocks the mystery of God and history. As I began to pray and reach out to Jesus it was like a wave of refreshing reality flooded my soul. Truth had made an entrance point into my life and it wasn’t a philosophy or a theory, but a Person. I understood that Christ was the perfect image of God and that through him, there is restoration of the distance between God and people, and when that gap is closed, we start becoming who we were created to be: image bearers. This is an amazing thought: of actually finding our truest purpose and destiny in life. It seems many people tread lightly around Jesus, and for obvious reason. As Nelson Mandela said, “It’s not our smallness and weakness we most fear, it’s our greatness.” When I am faced with the God that sent the perfect One to die on a cross for me, it causes me to tremble. How could God see something of such greatness in me, that he would invite me to draw near to him through the costly price paid on a cross. It may be fearful to think why God would invite us to draw near, but the invitation stands. May we not let fear rob us of answering such an invitation.