#1 Who Is Jesus?
 

    The prize lay on the table. A new computer! Excitedly its owner cut open the box. Gingerly he took the machine out, studied its manual, and connected all the appropriate wires. Eagerly he flipped on the power switch.
    Nothing.
    Puzzled, the man switched the computer to "Off@ and rechecked all connections. He rounded up a screwdriver and fastened the wires more securely. He reread the relevant portion of the manual. Satisfied that he= d followed directions, once more he flipped the computer on.
    Nothing.
    Confusion turned to anger. What had those salespeople stuck him with? Didn't they say it had been "100 percent tested"?
    He was mad. His dealer would hear about this! He reached for the telephone to demand his money back. Just then his little daughter walked into the room.
  "Hi, Daddy!@ her cheery voice rang out. "What a pretty computer! Can I plug it in?@
  In the excitement of having a new toy, the man missed the one thing he couldn't afford to forget.
    How often that happens to us in our Christian lives! We concentrate on the details of life and neglect Christ. We focus on all kinds of human systems and lose sight of Christ. We listen to all sorts of human authorities and forget that all authority resides in Christ. We get off into the latest ideas and kicks and therapies and somehow forget that only in Christ do we find reality.
    Paul was constantly warning people on that point. He returned to it again and again and insists that we return there, too.
    The whole of the first two chapters of Colossians rings with the truth that all reality is found in Christ. All the fullness of the Godhead dwells in him! He is head over all things! In Christ is to be found all authority!
    If anyone ever comes near to confuse you with theories, ideas, approaches, and emphases that draw your attention away from Christ, you know that's a person to avoid. Always we must turn our eyes upon Jesus.
    That is the word for the church today. Learn Christ! Focus on him! Meditate on what he has done!
    Forget him, and you= re in peril. Remember and honor him, and you will find your life revolutionized.
    Isn't that, after all, why he came?
 

In God's Image
 

He is the image of the invisible God.
(Colossians 1:15)
 

    When Paul says that Christ is "the image of the invisible God,@ he means that Christ came to give us a visible expression of a God who is invisible. "He who has seen me has seen the Father,@ Jesus told his disciples. That is why no one with access to a Bible can claim ignorance of what God is like.
    But he is much more than that. Jesus Christ is a reflection to us of what man was intended to be.
    One of the remarkable, enigmatic things about man is his schizophrenia. Creativity oozes from his pores. He can do such magnificent things. Walk around the world with half an eye open, and you'll be awestruck at the sheer brilliance of mankind.
    At the same time, however, we humans are capable of inexplicable cruelty and hostility. We pervert and pollute the most precious and beautiful things in the most dastardly, cowardly way imaginable.
    How can these two impulses co-exist? How can mankind be so creative and yet so destructive? I submit that the only adequate theory sees mankind as having a marred vestige of the divine image. We were created perfect, but we fell. Then Christ came into the world, and against a fallen humanity, he stands supreme. In so doing he demonstrates how far we have fallen.
    If ever we want to know how we're doing as human beings, we mustn't compare ourselves with ourselves. Instead we must measure ourselves against Jesus, the image of the invisible God - the sort of person man was intended to be in the first place.
    That leads to something else. Scripture teaches that the Lord Jesus came into the world, died and rose again, then sent his Spirit into the hearts of the redeemed. The objective of the indwelling Spirit, Scripture clearly says, is to work in the hearts of reborn men and women so that ultimately they will be restored to the image of God.
    This process will come to its glorious consummation when we stand before the Lord. When we see Jesus, Scripture says we will be like him. What will that mean? Since he is the image of the invisible God, when we see him we will be like him - the image of the invisible God. We will be restored to our full humanity. Christ, through his Spirit, is changing us more and more into his image.
    What is one of the areas God is working on in your life to help you be more like Christ?
 

~Stuart Briscoe~