“We look at this Son and see the God who cannot be seen. We look at this Son and see God’s original purpose in everything created. For everything, absolutely everything, above and below, visible and invisible, rank after rank after rank of angels—everything got started in him and finds its purpose in him. He was there before any of it came into existence and holds it all together right up to this moment.” –Colossians 1:15-18 (MSG)
I don’t know about you, but when I look to Jesus my heart is filled with heavenly infatuation. It’s hard to explain the obsession that I feel when I see him for who he truly is. My heart beats wild at the thought of this King who is above all and in all and holds everything together. When I remember the grandeur of this God, everything is peace. When I remember the goodness-drenched sovereignty of Jesus, it makes my momentary afflictions and the hardness of this world seem small. He is the only hope for this world, and sometimes I foolishly forget that.
I see the pain of this world and rack my brain for answers, when he is the only one. If everyone in this broken world could behold him for who he truly is, a holy, lasting infatuation would begin to sweep the nations. Jesus is truly irresistible in his purest form. He is more than an idea or a religion. He is a friend. He is the King. And he is alive. Jesus is more than the tightly wound opinions we spout on social media. He is more than hate crime and the rallies that misrepresent him. He is most often not even in the things we slap his name across. He is more than a cause to hide behind, and so much more than any of our cultural opinions or broken bias.
Jesus is so beautiful, beyond the justice words can do. I just want everyone to see that. I’m so sorry for the ways people misrepresent his glorious image because all of us were made to know him. We were each made to be called his friend. And that’s all he wants. Can you see why he’s so good? He says come as you are, and I will give you rest (Matt. 11:28-30). In this world filled with turmoil and calamity, he offers us rest: pure, holy, life-changing rest.
In our culture plagued by short-lived infatuations, he is offering you an infatuation as long-lived as the stars and angels in heaven, before time began. You and I were made for this holy fixation. And he is waiting patiently with joy in his eyes. In the midst of all this pain and brokenness, injustice and prejudice, Jesus says come. He doesn’t see your political affiliation, skin color or notions of him, he simply sees you. And you are all he wants. May we allow him to hold us all together. May all mankind find their true purpose and all-absorbing passion in him.
By Rachel Denison
