Colossians 1:17

"He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together."

Being in science I've learned a lot about how impossibly complex life and all the components of life really are. Every professor has their own way of explaining it: "Wow, nature is just an amazing designer", "It's hard to believe this all happened by chance...but there it is", "Really it looks complex, and it is, but it all figured itself out"
Before going on to what scripture says about this complexity I must be reminded of my and everyone else's complete incapability of understanding this ourselves (more on this later)
Jesus Christ, created and sustains everything. EVERYTHING. why everything, well because everything needs sustaining. All it takes is one biology class for the believer in Christ to look at it and see WOW this creation really needs God in control and it really does have God in control. I could give countless examples of things that I have learned in the past year but just look out side and know everything you see, eat, touch...all of it is being upheld by God. Here I'll give one example:
Did you know that the air you breath isn't just oxygen. It is only 21% oxygen. Here's the cool part, if it were more than the average lifespan would continually decrease because increased oxygen concentration is a bad thing. If it were less breathing would be more difficult and eventually there would not be enough to sustain you. God created you and everything else in such a way that it all works in complete perfect equilibrium (had to throw the scientific word in there) and He did it all just by speaking. God didn't sit down for a couple thousand years to plan out just how everything was going to work together. He spoke and it was made.
That's the Jesus Christ I worship
the one who knows every answer to my tests because He made everything
the one who knows exactly what I am thinking because He made my mind and knows it better than I do
the one who died for me and rose again because He knows my need for a savior from my sins
My incapability of understanding this is so necessary at this point. I think so often that I've come to this amazing conclusion on my own, that Jesus is awesome, and I think "why don't others see it". but i must remember that it is only because of the call from God and the opening of my eyes (nothing of my own power) that i was able to see
Jesus Christ is before all things
In Him ALL things hold together
All things
Thats awesome

Colossians

so its been awhile since i wrote on here
i'm starting to go through colossians now
but i'm going to do it a bit differently than ephesians and philippians
i'm not sure what that means yet but i will hopefully be posting more about all that I am learning and share what God has been teaching me through the book
so far the background to colossians has been quite surprising to me
i'm sure i have heard it before but seeing it again was really interesting and gave me new insights into what I am reading
Paul wrote this letter to the colossians without ever having been there before
Epaphras who is mentioned in ch.1 vs 7 responded to Paul's message, most likely in Ephesus, and returned to Colossae to preach to them and establish the church there
The colossians would have been a much smaller group than Philipi or Ephesus but they still struggled with some of the same things
The main point of Paul's letter was dealing with the false teachers who were claiming to have come in the name of Christ but were preaching fasle doctrine and confusing the colossians
In vs. 5 of the first chapter Paul says "...of this you have heard before in the word of the truth, the gospel"
Paul is calling them to remember exactly who Jesus is and for them to remember what they had originally been taught about the gospel.
Basically it's like this "Guys you've heard it before, you know the truth, Epaphras taught you everything about Jesus and His supremacy, so stop listening to these false teachers and remember what you have been taught.
That is the basis for the rest of the Letter. Paul proclaims Christ, who He is, what He has done and is doing, and finally how the Colossians should act in response to this
I found that as I read the verse with the background in mind I could understand better the intention of the letter and apply it much better to my life. If I do not have a firm established belief in Christ set up than it will be easy to fall into what some of the false teachers are saying. I am so thankful that I have been taught in Christ from a young age and that I have many people in my life who continually teach me and remind me of what an awesome hope I have in Jesus