Keeping Christ Central & Supreme: How Colossians 1 Brings Everything Back Into Alignment
- The Love Church
- Mar 22
- 8 min read
Has your life felt scattered lately — pulled in a dozen directions, a little unfocused, a little chaotic? If the honest answer is yes, then I have good news for you today. There is a passage in Scripture written precisely for that feeling, and it centers on one simple, foundational truth: when Christ is central and supreme, everything else finds its proper place in our lives. That is not a motivational slogan. It is the heartbeat of Colossians chapter one, and it is the message I believe the Holy Spirit has for us this morning.
The world offers its own answer to scattered living, of course. Self-help culture has made an industry out of telling us to "find ourselves" or "get centered." I encountered this firsthand years ago in an airport, where a group of seekers told me they were traveling to India to find a guru and, ultimately, to find themselves. I thought of what Paul wrote to the Roman Christians — that in himself dwells no good thing. The goodness we have is not found by looking inward. It is found by looking to Christ.
Keeping Christ Central Begins With Knowing Who You Are
Before Paul gives the church at Colossae a single instruction, he does something remarkable. He reminds them of their identity. He calls them "God's holy people" and "faithful brothers and sisters in Christ." This is not an accident of phrasing — it is deliberate pastoral wisdom. You cannot live from the right foundation until you know what that foundation actually is.
Holy does not mean flawless. It means set apart — consecrated to God, belonging to Him in a way that shapes everything. I love to say it this way: we value progress over perfection here, because none of us will hit perfection this side of eternity. But you can make progress. And one of the clearest signs that you are making progress is that the Holy Spirit's conviction gets quicker and more tender — areas that once took months to address now become apparent almost immediately. That is the fingerprint of spiritual growth.
Say it with me if you need to hear it today: I am set apart unto the Lord. I have been selected by God. When you sink your teeth into that reality — truly grasp that the Creator of the universe has called you and chosen you — it changes the way you walk. It changes what you will and will not tolerate in your own life. And it changes the lens through which you see every decision, every relationship, every season.
2 Corinthians 5:17 is unambiguous: "Anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun." You do not live as a believer hoping one day to earn God's acceptance. You already have it — fully, completely, through Christ. Your entire life flows out of that acceptance, not toward it.
What Faith, Hope, and Love Produce
Paul then turns his eyes to what he has heard about the Colossians, and he gives thanks to God for three specific things: their faith in Christ Jesus, their love for all God's people, and their confident hope in heaven. If you have spent any time in 1 Corinthians 13, you will recognize that trilogy immediately — faith, hope, and love. These are not coincidental. They are the hallmarks of a life that has Christ at its center.
When Christ is genuinely supreme in a life, these three graces begin to appear and flourish. Faith grows because it is anchored in a Person, not in circumstances. Love deepens because it flows from a source that never runs dry. And hope steadies the soul against every storm because it is fixed on something eternal — not the shifting sands of this world, but the unshakeable promise of heaven.
Paul then describes what the gospel does when it is bearing fruit in someone's life. It changes that person from the inside out. It bears fruit. And as Jesus Himself declared in John 15:8, "When you produce much fruit, you are my true disciples." The first lives the gospel transforms are our own — and that transformation is not complete until every compartment of our life is yielded to His lordship.
A Moment to Reflect
Pause here for just a moment. Is Christ truly central in your life — or is He simply included? There is a significant difference between a life that has made room for Jesus alongside everything else, and a life that has been reorganized around Him. Ask the Holy Spirit right now: "Lord, is there an area of my life where You are not yet Lord? Show it to me." He is faithful to answer that prayer.
Surrender: Letting God Do the Jenga
Here is where keeping Christ central gets wonderfully uncomfortable. Paul prays in Colossians 1:9 that believers would be "filled with the knowledge of God's will." And that filling — that growing understanding of His Word, His will, and His way — leads to a life that increasingly honors and pleases God in every area. Not just on Sunday mornings. Not just in the pew. On Monday. On Tuesday. On a cruise ship. On your birthday. Always.
The truth is that God will sometimes put His finger on something specific in your life and say: I want that out. It may be something obviously harmful. Or it may be something subtler — a habit, a relationship pattern, a source of entertainment that is quietly pulling your heart away from Him. I can tell you from my own experience that God put His finger on the sharpness of my tongue years ago. He said, You can hurt people with your wit, and you can make it funny enough that everyone laughs, but they are still hurting. He has been working on me in that area for a long time. As the saying goes — I may not be what I ought to be, but thank God I am not what I used to be.
God is either Lord of all, or He is not really Lord at all. That is not a rebuke — it is an invitation. Think about it like a game of Jenga. When we grip tightly to the pieces God is asking us to release, we are terrified the whole structure will collapse. But if you let God do the Jenga — if you trust the gentle, intentional hand of the One who knows exactly what He is doing — He can pull out pieces you were certain were load-bearing, and your life will not only hold together but become more stable than it ever was.
The story of Abraham and Isaac illustrates this beautifully. Abraham raised the knife over his miracle son — the child he had waited decades for — in complete obedience to God. At the last possible moment, God stopped his hand and provided a ram in the thicket. The principle is this: God will never ask you to release something without having something better prepared. Anything you surrender to Christ is not lost. It is reconstituted. He transforms it, replaces it, or simply fills that vacancy with more of Himself — which is always the greater blessing.
Romans 12:2 calls us to be transformed by the renewing of our minds. This is not a one-time event. It is a daily posture — a life lived with open hands and an open heart, asking God to reveal what is out of alignment and trusting Him completely with the answer.
Growing in Spiritual Maturity: A Commandment, Not a Suggestion
Paul does not suggest that the Colossians grow. He prays for it and expects it. And 2 Peter 3:18 makes it explicit: "Grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ." Growth is a commission. It is something God calls every believer into, and stagnation is not a neutral option — it is a slow drift in the wrong direction.
There are three things you need if you want to grow into greater spiritual maturity: the Word of God, the will of God, and the ways of God. And here is the beautiful thing — they are all connected. The more you read His Word, the more clearly you understand His will. And the more you understand His will, the more you begin to recognize His ways. Your "why God" questions get quieter and quieter, not because life gets easier, but because you know Him well enough to trust the process.
Paul's prayer in Colossians 1:10 gives us the practical shape of a maturing life: live in a way that honors and pleases God, produce every kind of good fruit, and grow to know God better and better. That is the pattern. It is not complicated. It is costly — but it is not complicated. Do the next right thing. Take the next obedient step. Honor God in the next decision in front of you. And as 1 Thessalonians 5:5 reminds us, "You are all children of the light and children of the day." That is your identity. Live from it.
Keeping Christ Central Is Always an Open Invitation
Perhaps you came into today feeling like that crew member on the ship that Pastor Joan spoke with on the pickleball court — someone who loves Jesus, who genuinely believes, but who has found themselves pulled off center by the currents and distractions of daily life. That is not a disqualification. That is an invitation.
Revelation 3:20 contains one of the most tender promises in all of Scripture: "Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with that person, and they with me." He is knocking. He is not standing in judgment at that door — He is standing in love, waiting for you to simply open it and say: Come in, Lord. Rearrange whatever needs rearranging. You are welcome in every room.
The question Paul leaves us with at the end of this passage is one worth sitting with today: Are you living like Christ is central, or merely included? And are you growing — pressing forward in your pursuit of God — or are you drifting, being slowly carried along by the current of the world?
God has begun a good work in you. Philippians 1:6 promises that He will be faithful to complete it. But we must make ourselves available. We must keep the door open. We must keep Christ central and supreme — and when we do, we will be astonished at what He is able to fix, restore, and bring into alignment in our lives.
He is already knocking. Go ahead and open the door.
A Prayer and a Next Step
If something in today's message stirred your heart — a conviction about an area that needs to be surrendered, or a simple desire to stop drifting and start pressing in toward God again — I want to invite you to pray this right now:
"Lord Jesus, I open the door. I want You to be the center of everything — not just the Sunday morning piece of my life, but all of it. I surrender the rooms I have kept locked. I trust You with what You remove and what You replace. Grow me. Change me. Make me more like You. Amen."
Preached on March 22, 2026 | Horseheads, New York
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