The Centrality of Christ

BY Patti Sauls

I guess it was inevitable. All my life, I had 20/20 vision. Distant street signs? No problem. Small print on a menu? I’ve got this. But then I turned forty. As eyestrain and blurriness became my new normal, I realized how much I had taken the gift of clear vision for granted. Now I have eyeglasses scattered throughout my home and car as I squint to see things up close and far away. Good times.

Today’s passages remind us that, without Jesus, our spiritual vision is impaired too. On our own, we strain as we consider who God is and how we can be close to Him. Can I know God? Does God really love and accept me? Can I trust Him? The answers to such honest, human questions shape our faith and lives, yet they often seem blurry.

Paul wanted the church in Colossae to see truth clearly. They had started with gospel clarity, seeing Jesus as the only one able to reconcile sinful people to a holy God, “by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross” (Colossians 1:20). But false teachers were misleading the church. They were instructing the Colossians to rely on their own efforts and enlightenment for right standing with God, instead of relying on the finished work of Jesus’s life, death, and resurrection. The issue was a Christ-centered worldview versus their self-centered worldview, which is a futile, tiring way to live.

Truth was being twisted and blurred, so Paul urged the Colossians to look to Christ. Relying on Christ alone was the only way to see and experience God with clarity and certainty. “[Jesus] is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation” (v.15). Jesus is the very image of God because He is God. When we look to Jesus—how He lived, how He loved, how He forgave, how He sacrificed to restore broken, lost people—we see how God relates to us.

Looking to Christ is like putting on eyeglasses so we can see God and ourselves more clearly. Looking to Christ means seeing and embracing the truth that He is Creator and King of every single thing in all creation—including our salvation, the daily ups and downs of our lives, and the state of the entire world.

To be sure, our vision is impaired and life can be a blur: morning-rush meltdowns, job hassles, relationship tensions, deep disappointments, fear of the future. We strain for clarity and control. But let us “not [shift] away from the hope of the gospel” (v.23). Is blurriness about God’s power and love becoming your new normal? Are you feeling the strain of relying more and more on yourself to push through each day? Put on your eyeglasses! Look to Christ and rely on Him. Rest in Him.

Jesus, you see, rule, and restore all of your creation. Help us rely on You, to trust You to restore our sight too. Restore our vision of Your power and love. Amen.