Colossians 1:17-19 Head of the Church
Format for Your Devotions
Instructions: Do not read my example devotion until you have completed your own devotional time in the scriptures. Reading my thoughts first may limit your own understanding. Let the Holy Spirit speak to you alone before looking to see what anyone else has to say, whether it is me, a Bible commentary, or a friend. Let God speak to you before you let another person speak to you. I have provided a format, but modify it to fit your needs. For example, I usually combine my application and prayer together talking to God about the application to my own life. You can go through this devotion process mentally, speaking out loud, or in writing as you wish. Don’t worry if you are not following this process exactly. Sometimes, I add extra information and sometimes I emphasize one part more than others. However, you should always think about what you learn about God from this passage.
Step 1: Pray–Ask for the Holy Spirit’s guidance first of all and that God may reveal the lessons that He wants you to have that day. Request that God protect you from Satan’s distractions (and the devil will try to distract you whether it is pinching the baby or putting you to sleep). Ask to see God more clearly as you read and think about the passage.
Step 2: Read the passage–Read to get an overview of the information first. Then start looking at specific parts after the first reading. You may read a larger or smaller section than I have here because you do not have to follow my organization at all.
Step 3: Understand the passage–You can summarize, ask and answer your own questions about the passage, visualize the story, analyze the characters, and relate this passage to other scriptures and personal experiences.
Step 4: What does this reveal about God?–What do you learn about the Father, Son, and/or Holy Spirit from this passage?
Step 5: Apply this to your own life.
Step 6: Prayer
My Example Devotion: September 24, 2020 Colossians 1:17-19
Note: In the devotion examples, I leave my questions and thought processes in the text because I am trying to demonstrate that a devotional time is a dialogue with God about what you are reading from His word. As such, any questions or ideas that you have should be explored by talking it out with God. These example devotions are not my attempts to teach you what the meaning of a particular scripture is. They are an attempt to teach you the process of devotions, which is a combination of prayer and Bible study where you explore ideas with God as you read His word.
And 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, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent. For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell,
(Understanding the Text / Revelation of God) Paul is really emphasizing the preeminence of Jesus here. I wonder if the Colossians were overemphasizing Jesus’ humanity or were acting like Jesus was limited. He has already emphasized Jesus as Creator and as the image of the invisible God and that creation was not only by Him, but also for His own pleasure. Now, Paul goes on. He explains that Jesus existed before anything else existed. Paul is basically explaining that Jesus is God. He was pre-existent. All things hold together in Him, so He is God in the sense that He holds the worlds in place and keeps the natural forces running. Jesus is above everything and everyone. All the fullness of God lives in Him.
Most of all, Jesus is the leader of the church. He is our leader. He is an all-powerful leader. He is our Creator and still our leader. He represents us to the universe. He led the way for us from dying for our sins to rising from the dead. We follow in His path to eternal life. He is first in the sense of nothing is before Him, but He is also first in the sense of being the highest and most important. He was first to exist since He has always existed. He was first to rise from the dead. This is not true in the sense of no one rising from the dead before Him since Moses rose from the dead. It is true in the sense of opening the path for all time. Moses was the symbol, but did not change anything. Jesus opened up the way for us to follow.
(Prayer / Application) Jesus, you led the way so that we would know how to follow. You sent a guide to live in us, so that we would not stray off the safe path. You were first on the path to create it, but You are also still with us to walk on the path together. We are becoming like You more and more as we walk on that path, and some day we will be totally like You in our love and character. Our personalities will be different. My application for myself is that I need to study Jesus more. I don’t understand all the ramifications of what I studied today.