What Holds the World Together?

Philippians 4 and Colossians 1

What holds YOUR world together? There are several verses I remember and quote when the "goin' gets rough".
Philippians 4:4 "Rejoice in the Lord always; again I say rejoice."
Philippians 4:6 "Do not worry about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God".
Philippians 4:8 "Finally, beloved, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is pleasing, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things". (This is 2nd my favorite verse in the Bible. My first favorite is Micah 6:8)
Those verses help hold my world together. Paul is one very inspiring fellow in this letter.

Colossians is about Christ's role in the cosmos. There is apparently some philosophy that it opposes.

Paul's letter opens with a thanksgiving, and intercessory prayer report, and then a type of hymn. 1:15-17 deals with Christ's role in creation, and 1:18-20 deals with his role in the sphere of redemption. This cosmic ruler (Christ) achieved his position through suffering and the peace for the whole world is the result.

There is a lot of discussion in the commentaries about the "hymn" in 1:15-20 and where it came from. It seems there has been a lot written about having been a song about another Gnostic savior, and it was changed by Paul to reflect who Jesus was. "There is major scholarly debate regarding these verses, and voluminous secondary literature"(The New Interpreter's Bible, Vol. 11, pg. 601). Can you imagine being a part of that debate? That must be what scholars do. Seems like too much work to be done in this world to bother debating over a hymn and where it came from.

It reminded me of Charles Wesley using the tunes to pub songs to help people remember the words of the songs he wrote. How many of us pay close attention to words we are singing? It isn't as difficult with modern praise songs because there is a lot of repetition (I get it - "Our God is an awesome God!"). When you sing the words, "Holy, holy, holy! Lord God Almighty!" does your heart soar? Do you want to know about where the saints got their golden crowns and why they are casting them down around the glassy sea? Have you noticed that at the bottom of the page in the hymnal is the verse Rev. 4:8-11? Fascinating!

Some of you may have never heard of Gnosticism. It is an interesting topic. Check it out.

If we Christians focussed on what we had in common - instead of how we are different - and what we can't agree on, I wonder how different the world would be. I wonder what Christ thinks about all the different denominations of Christianity. I guess as long as we love God and love our neighbor, we can work together. That will help hold the world together.

Tomorrow we finish Colossians and start on Philemon. Then on to Corinthians! I love Corinthians! I wish I could get ahead of you guys, but I am having touble just keeping up.