More to This Life – Steven Curtis Chapman
Scriptures:
Colossians 1:13-18 (New King James Version)
Preeminence of Christ
13 He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love, 14 in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins.
15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. 16 For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him. 17 And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist. 18 And He is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things He may have the preeminence.
Thinking the other day about an experience I had a few years ago…
The church parking lot was always packed, leading the church’s pastor to ask members to park in a nearby shopping center parking lot. Permission had been granted from the shopping center management, and there were parking spaces to the rear of the stores so that membership parking would not negatively impact the stores’ customers. Although not a lot of other members seemed to be complying with the pastor’s request, I did. Sometimes I would drive by the church and let my children out, see them into the church building, and then drive to the shopping center to park. That is what I had done that pleasantly warm, sunny morning, and I was walking alone along the dirt path in front of the house that was located next to the church.
Suddenly, I don’t know what happened. The field of vision before me changed, and I didn’t know what I was seeing in front of me. I don’t know if I stopped walking or continued on my way. I don’t remember moving my head, or looking around to see if anything else was different – I was just trying to figure out at what was I looking straight ahead of me. Even as the question formulated itself in my head, the answer seemed to drop into my spirit: “The Fullness of Salvation.” Just as suddenly as it had appeared, the vision disappeared. I didn’t know how much time elapsed, although it seemed to be almost instantaneous.
Like Mary (Luke 2:19), I pondered this thing in my heart. I couldn’t remember anything about what I had seen, because there seemed to have been no frame of reference. I thought it must have been light, because the contrast with the bright sunshine would have been noticeable had it been dark, right? For the same reason, it must have been in color, for I supposed that the contrast with the spring-like day and colors around me would have been memorable had they been absent. It was like when you shift your vision to look at a “magic eye” 3D picture. The problem was, I hadn’t had the time (and maybe not even the ability!) to shift my vision. Nor had I known for what I was to have been looking.
I went on to church, although I was really “out of it.” Afterward, while several of us were standing in the parking lot talking, someone said something about salvation, and I just remember intimating that we (people) don’t even really know all of what salvation entails. There was not a lot of agreement with me, though I tried unsuccessfully to share with them what I had experienced. Guess it was just for me at that time.
So I know that there is something more…
1 Corinthians 2:9-11, (Amplified Bible)
9But, on the contrary, as the Scripture says, What eye has not seen and ear has not heard and has not entered into the heart of man, [all that] God has prepared (made and keeps ready) for those who love Him [who hold Him in affectionate reverence, promptly obeying Him and gratefully recognizing the benefits He has bestowed].
10Yet to us God has unveiled and revealed them by and through His Spirit, for the [Holy] Spirit searches diligently, exploring and examining everything, even sounding the profound and bottomless things of God [the divine counsels and things hidden and beyond man's scrutiny].
... and my journey with Him continues ...
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