For God was pleased to know all his fullness dwell in him.
(Colossians 1:19)
 

    Have you ever come to know and admire someone of great gifts and ability, only to discover later you didn't know the half of it?
    Something like that apparently happened late in 1987 to film critics across the country. Many thought of director Steven Spielberg as one-dimensional talent, a fellow who put out cute, wholesome fantasies (like E. T.). His pictures may not mean much, the critics said, but they= re great fun.
    Then Spielberg released a film titled Empire of the Sun. It told the story of a young English boy interned by the Japanese from 1941 to 1945 in occupied China. The critics were astonished - Spielberg wasn't thought capable of creating a thoughtful picture like Empire.
    If you take that astonishment and multiply it by a billion, you will get a glimmer of the awe and amazement that Jesus prompted in the apostle Paul.
    Paul knew that Jesus is magnificent in the creation. He knew that Jesus is magnificent in the church. But he also knew that Jesus is magnificent in the Christian. His greatness is magnified in what he does in the lives and hearts of the redeemed.
    When Jesus came to earth as the God-Man, "God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him.@ Everything that makes God was present in Christ.
    That had special significance for the church at Colosse. When Paul wrote his letter, the church was battling some heretics who quite probably were teaching a doctrine that eventually would develop into something called Gnosticism. This heresy nearly demolished the church of the second century.
    Gnostics stressed two ideas. First, they taught that to really understand spiritual things you had to be initiated in a special way - their way. "We have all the truth,@ they said. "Do it our way or forget it.@ If you had not gained this special enlightenment, this special knowledge, you hadn't even gotten to square one.
    Second, they believed that matter was evil and spirit was good. Therefore God, who is Spirit, could have nothing to do with the creation, which was material and evil. Spirit and matter could never touch.
    Paul came around and said, "No, matter is not evil; all things were created by Christ and through him and for him. In Christ you have everything you need for true spiritual experience.@
    That is profound. We need to be reminded that God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in Christ, and that all his fullness is available to us.
    What are some of the aspects of the "fullness of God,@ found in Christ, that we need to be more aware of and apply to our lives every day?
 

Father, thank you that all I need of you is available in Christ. Please help me to come closer to you through him and learn to fully appreciate all you have given to me, Amen.
 

~Stuart Briscoe~