He can speak anything into existence, creating EVERYTHING out of nothing.
He can make the invisible visible.
And He can make ME faultless.
(makes me think of that song about being flawless)
I read all about these divine magical powers this morning in Colossians 1:15-23
Christ is the visible image of the invisible God.
He existed before anything was created and is supreme over all creation,
for through Him God created everything
in the heavenly realms and on earth.
He made the things we can see
and the things we can't see --
such as thrones, kingdoms, rulers, and authorities in the unseen world.
Everything was created through Him and for Him.
He existed before anything else,
and He holds all creation together.
Christ is also the head of the church,
which is His body.
He is the beginning,
supreme over all who rise from the dead.
So He is first in everything.
For God in all His fullness
was pleased to live in Christ,
and through Him God reconciled everything to Himself.
He made peace with everything in heaven and on earth
by means of Christ's blood on the cross.
This includes you who were once far away from God. You were His enemies, separated from Him by your evil thoughts and actions. Yet now He has reconciled you to Himself through the death of Christ in His physical body. As a result, He has brought you into His own presence, and you are hold and blameless as you stand before Him without a single fault.
But you must continue to believe this truth and stand firmly in it. Don't drift away from the assurance you received when you heard the Good News. The Good News has been preached all over the world, and I, Paul, have been appointed as God's servant to proclaim it.
So, let's go over those magic tricks again.
First, Christ is the visible image of the invisible God.
Until Jesus' birth no one had ever seen God.
BUT, when Jesus left heaven and came to earth as a tiny baby, born in a stable, everything changed.
Somehow Mary held in her arms the Creator of the universe, the One who had been before time began and spoke creation into existence. That would be the second divine magic trick we see here in this passage. God made everything out of nothing. And then proceeded to hold it all together. Check out Genesis 1 if you don't believe me!
And of course, God being the master showman that He is, saved the best trick for last. Through Christ He has reconciled everyone to Himself!!! He has turned enemies into friends. He has made completely clean what was rotten, disgusting, and full of sin. By means of Christ's DEATH, He has given us LIFE. That's a pretty impressive trick too, if I do say so myself.
But here's the amazing part - it's NOT a trick at all!
Salvation is the real deal.
The bee's knees.
We who were doomed to die and be forever separated from God are now invited into His very presence and stand before Him holy and blameless and without fault.
It's no doing of our own.
Left to ourselves, we WOULD perish.
In Christ, and Christ alone, can we have eternal life.
His BLOOD, shed upon that horrific cross, has washed us clean.
We are white as snow.
I don't know of any magician that can do that!
Though, on Facebook the other day, I did see a pretty good visual demonstrating how Jesus makes us pure while remaining uncontaminated Himself.
As I read those verses this morning, I was taken aback.
I deserve to die, yet today I stand in the presence of God.
Holy.
Blameless.
Without fault.
I shake my head even now as I type out my amazing reality.
I am forever grateful for this gift of life.
And I plan to do as Paul urged the believers in Colosse to do all those years ago - stand firm in this truth that I have heard and received.
As I sang with my girls in the car earlier today,
No magic required...
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