Tuesday, August 30

READ: Colossians 1:15-21

He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. Colossians 1:15 (CSB)

I bit off more than I can chew recently. My good friend Alan and his wife, Alvera, are downsizing and he invited me to come to his workshop and buy some of his tools.

Which I did… and then some.

Malachi and I loaded it up last week and brought it home, but I knew that I would have to completely reconfigure my little workshop if it was going to all fit in there. So, we ripped out the benches, tables, and shelves and completely rebuilt it.

(Whoops… that’s past tense… it isn’t BUILTyet. Hopefully, we will wrap it up tonight.)

The whole thing has been just way more work than I was expecting. I’m set up for… well, life… with materials and tools, but I’m exhausted.

I have chronic fatigue syndrome which I control through diet and monitoring my physical exertion very closely. But like anyone else, sometimes you have to just get it done so I’ve had a migraine for three days running and my brain has been in a perpetual fog. I’m dang near exhausted.

One of the things that happens when I feel this tired is that my limbs get weak and ache. Sometimes, it feels like pins and needles, and other times, it just hurts.

I was thinking of ways to describe this sensation and it’s very hard. The closest I can get is how it feels the day after you run a marathon or use muscles you forgot were in disuse. That achy fatigue is how it feels when I push myself physically.

Sort of.

See, it’s hard to describe something that is inside me.

Describe how your butt feels in the seat you are sitting in.

Describe how it felt to hold your child for the first time.

How would you explain how love feels to someone from a dysfunctional home?

It’s tough.

You need to find analogous things and work back from there.

Now describe God.

All through the Old Testament, God was described in terms that resembled forces of nature, or even the characteristics of the pagan deities of neighbouring nations. God was invisible – although He occasionally took a human form – and could be experienced as a Spirit. How do you make sense of this?

You can’t. Not fully.

But then Jesus showed up on the scene – and He filled in so many gaps for us.

“He is the image of the invisible God…”

Paul put on his poet’s hat to write this passage and I don’t know if there is a more beautiful section of scripture in the New Testament. It introduces us to another dimension of the Father-Son God we worship.

The problem is, of course, that Jesus didn’t hang around for more than a few decades and then He peaced out and left us to figure out again how to describe God. Fortunately, He left us His story – the Gospel – and now the Church is the Body – or representation – of Christ on earth. We are now the closest thing that people can look at to get an idea of who God is.

“The Church is the image of the invisible God…”

Well shoot.

I blush to think that we are the best option. And knowing how badly we behave; we talk and talk and talk to try and explain a God we say we love but represent poorly.

Maybe if we work hard at it, someone will write a poem about us one day. I’m going to work hard at it today. Will you join me?