Christ is the head of the church, which is his body. He is the first of all who will rise from the dead, so he is first in everything.
Devotional Text
Looking at Colossians 1:13-20, we recognize that Jesus Christ deserves supremacy. In this passage, Paul describes the awesome spiritual dimensions of Christ as God sees Him. Verse 15 speaks of Him as the “visible image of the invisible God.” Then in verse 16, He is described as “the one through whom God created everything in heaven and earth.” He is the actual Creator of anything that has ever been cre-ated—spiritual or physical. Jesus is the invisible force that binds together even atoms and molecules. Through Him, all things “hold together” (v. 17 NIV). He is the Head of the Body, the Church (v. 18), and He was the first to rise from the dead as a firstfruit of all believers in the resurrection. Verse 19 reveals that all the fullness of God dwells in Him; that is, God’s character, energy, wisdom, and holiness are all contained within Him. Finally, His blood shed on the cross is the means by which fallen humanity is restored to God in peace (v. 20). Jesus is everything to God, and He should have supremacy in our lives as well. Why should we be fascinated by anyone else? Who else or what else besides Jesus matters? God “has rescued us from the one who rules in the kingdom of darkness, and he has brought us into the Kingdom of his dear Son” (Colossians 1:13).