Colossians 1:18
When I was in junior high many years ago, I was part of a youth ministry program called The Eagles. My youth pastor had created it to be a discipleship program. One in which we would grow closer to God in Bible reading, Scripture memory, Service projects, Church attendance, and a few other things I’ll mention in a bit. He set it up to be that you earned points for these different things, and at the end of the year, those points awarded you Bible study materials. I literally earned enough points to get a Matthew Henry Commentary set of the entire Bible. I also received a concordance and a few other Bible study tools.
Now here’s the thing, it didn’t end there. Whoever had the most points earned the “championship trophy” of The Eagles and that usually translated to The Eagle of the Year Award. Looking back on it, my youth pastor meant well, but his program created a sense of competition and rivalry when it was initially meant to be simply a discipleship program. I’m not sure I was always participating for the right reasons.
There was one particular year that I was leading our youth group in points. The problem was that some of my friends were close behind me, and I wanted to win. I know, I know...you didn’t think I was that competitive ?...yeah right! So, to earn extra points, my youth pastor let me read autobiographies of past spiritual leaders in the church. I’ve said a lot to get to this point. Here is where I am going with this...
The book that I ended up reading was named Portrait of Obedience: The Biography of Robert T. Ketcham. In the book, Ketcham stood against a lot of theological liberalism, and his life verse was...you guessed it...Colossians 1:18 reads, “And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy.” I was so impressed with his stand for truth in the face of immense pressure, that I adopted this verse as my favorite verse. In just a minute, I am going to tell you the significance of Ketcham to our church.
In Paul’s writing to the Colossians in chapter one, he focuses on the authority of Christ. He is the creator and sustainer of the universe. He holds everything together! He is the one who demands and deserves “first place” in our lives! Ironically, I was trying to win a trophy for some of the wrong reasons. Jesus IS the trophy! He IS the Lord! He is worthy of my praise, obedience, and service. As a young middle schooler, Colossians 1:18 became my LIFE VERSE, and I have never looked back. It is the cry of my heart that Jesus will always be first in my life! The Greek literally reads: “in order that he may become in all things, himself, first.” Can it be said in our lives that Jesus is more important to us than our careers, hobbies, relationships, and comforts?
Remember, I told you that I was going to come back to something later? Well, here it is. What I didn’t realize at the time was that Ketcham would be the very first leader of the General Association of Regular Baptist Churches. He would lead a group of churches away from the Northern Baptist Convention which began to welcome modernistic views such as the social gospel and the questioning of the inerrancy of Scripture. Ketcham led the charge in fighting these liberal tendencies, and it resulted in the GARBC...which happens to be the association that Emmanuel has belonged to for the past several years. Wow! Amazing!
Little did I know that as a young boy, I would be reading about what God would call me to do many years later...STANDING FOR TRUTH! Praise the Lord! He is shaping every step of our path with his amazing grace!
When I was in junior high many years ago, I was part of a youth ministry program called The Eagles. My youth pastor had created it to be a discipleship program. One in which we would grow closer to God in Bible reading, Scripture memory, Service projects, Church attendance, and a few other things I’ll mention in a bit. He set it up to be that you earned points for these different things, and at the end of the year, those points awarded you Bible study materials. I literally earned enough points to get a Matthew Henry Commentary set of the entire Bible. I also received a concordance and a few other Bible study tools.
Now here’s the thing, it didn’t end there. Whoever had the most points earned the “championship trophy” of The Eagles and that usually translated to The Eagle of the Year Award. Looking back on it, my youth pastor meant well, but his program created a sense of competition and rivalry when it was initially meant to be simply a discipleship program. I’m not sure I was always participating for the right reasons.
There was one particular year that I was leading our youth group in points. The problem was that some of my friends were close behind me, and I wanted to win. I know, I know...you didn’t think I was that competitive ?...yeah right! So, to earn extra points, my youth pastor let me read autobiographies of past spiritual leaders in the church. I’ve said a lot to get to this point. Here is where I am going with this...
The book that I ended up reading was named Portrait of Obedience: The Biography of Robert T. Ketcham. In the book, Ketcham stood against a lot of theological liberalism, and his life verse was...you guessed it...Colossians 1:18 reads, “And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy.” I was so impressed with his stand for truth in the face of immense pressure, that I adopted this verse as my favorite verse. In just a minute, I am going to tell you the significance of Ketcham to our church.
In Paul’s writing to the Colossians in chapter one, he focuses on the authority of Christ. He is the creator and sustainer of the universe. He holds everything together! He is the one who demands and deserves “first place” in our lives! Ironically, I was trying to win a trophy for some of the wrong reasons. Jesus IS the trophy! He IS the Lord! He is worthy of my praise, obedience, and service. As a young middle schooler, Colossians 1:18 became my LIFE VERSE, and I have never looked back. It is the cry of my heart that Jesus will always be first in my life! The Greek literally reads: “in order that he may become in all things, himself, first.” Can it be said in our lives that Jesus is more important to us than our careers, hobbies, relationships, and comforts?
Remember, I told you that I was going to come back to something later? Well, here it is. What I didn’t realize at the time was that Ketcham would be the very first leader of the General Association of Regular Baptist Churches. He would lead a group of churches away from the Northern Baptist Convention which began to welcome modernistic views such as the social gospel and the questioning of the inerrancy of Scripture. Ketcham led the charge in fighting these liberal tendencies, and it resulted in the GARBC...which happens to be the association that Emmanuel has belonged to for the past several years. Wow! Amazing!
Little did I know that as a young boy, I would be reading about what God would call me to do many years later...STANDING FOR TRUTH! Praise the Lord! He is shaping every step of our path with his amazing grace!
Posted in Devotional