In The Beginning
 

    The president of the United States of America wields awesome power as the commander-in-chief of all U.S. military forces. Even he, however, can= t do just what he likes with that power. The sphere of his operation is the constitution. When he takes his oath as president, he pledges to operate within the confines of the constitution.
    In the same way, God the Father has chosen to use all his mighty power in creation exclusively in and through Christ. Absolutely everything that was created - in heaven or on earth; visible or invisible, thrones, powers, rulers, authorities - was created through him and for him.
    That assumes that Jesus existed before anything was created. And that's exactly what Paul means. Far from being part of creation, and far from creation being part of him, Jesus is before all things. John says the same thing in John 1:1 - "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.@ Before anything was made, John says, the Word was continually in existence.
    While that's a powerful statement, it's also hard to get a handle on.
    We can get a handle on the Incarnation. We love little babies in mangers. We love the idea of everyone bowing down and worshiping before the manger. We can get a handle on Jesus the man, that Christ was beaten, maltreated, betrayed, deserted, cruelly scourged, and viciously crucified.
    We can even get excited about the idea of Jesus= rising from the dead in a resurrection body and appearing to his disciples.
    The thing we have a hard time handling is that this incarnate, rejected, crucified, maligned, spat-upon Jesus existed before anything was created.
    Unless we do begin to think of him in those terms, however, the significance of his incarnation, death, and resurrection will elude us. It was the pre-existent one who laid aside his glory, assumed our humanity, and stepped down into our life.
    When it says he is before all things, it doesn't say "before all things were created, he was.@ That would be good grammar but bad theology. Jesus does not operate on the basis of tenses as we do. We think in terms of past and present and future, but Jesus has only one tense - the present. Before all things were created, he is. He is the pre-existent, eternal one.
    That explains his superior status. Nothing created can possibly rank ahead of him. This is why idolatry is so detestable, for idolaters value the created thing more highly than the Creator. Idolatry is elevating created things above the one by, in, through, and for whom all things were created.
    Do I now value any created thing more than I value Jesus Christ? Practically speaking, is there anything or anyone that is presently more important to me than he is?
 

Lord Jesus, today I acknowledge that I was made through, by, and for you. Please help me to live that out today in everything I do, Amen.