Hello my friend Dr. Brad Miller here with the Daily Bible Refresh.

This is your daily reading of the Bible from a progressive point of view.

In a bit I will read the New Testament lessons selected from the Revised Common Lectionary for this very day.

The reading is understandable.

I use the Message version relatable.

Please listen to the points to ponder and applicable with action steps you can take.

We pray and are done in less than 10 minutes.

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Here's today's Reading Reading today from Colossians 1:15 23 from the Message Christ holds it all together.

We look at this sun and see the God who cannot be seen.

We look at the sun and see God's original purpose and everything created for everything, absolutely everything above and below, visible and invisible, rank after rank after rank of angels.

Everything got started in him and finds its purpose in Him.

He was there before any of it came into existence and holds it all together right up to this moment.

When it comes to the Church, he organizes and holds it together like the head does a body.

He was supreme at the beginning and leading the Resurrection parade.

He is supreme in the end.

From beginning to end, he's there, towering far above everything, everyone.

So spacious is he, so expansive that everything of God finds its proper place in him without crowding.

Not only that, but all the broken and dislocated pieces of the universe, people and things, animals and atoms, get properly fixed and fit together in vibrant harmonies, all because of his death, his blood that poured out from the cross.

You yourselves are a case study of what he does.

At one time you all had your backs turned to God, thinking rebellious thoughts of him, giving him trouble every chance you got.

But now, by giving Himself completely at the cross, actually dying for you, Christ brought you over to God's side and put your lives together, whole and holy in his presence.

You don't walk away from a gift like that.

You stay grounded and steady in that bond of trust, constantly tuned in to the message, careful not to be distracted or diverted.

There is no other message, just this one.

Every creature under heaven gets the same message.

I Paul, I'm a messenger of this message.

Well, that ends the reading of this scripture.

Thank you for.

For joining me today.

In this passage here, Paul kind of opens up the lens wide and says, you think you understand how big this God is?

Well, you don't.

Let me show you.

So that's we're going to talk about here today.

So let's get into a couple of points to ponder.

First point to ponder.

God's project is way bigger than we've been told.

A lot of us grew up with a version of faith that was essentially about individual souls getting into heaven.

You believe the right thing, you say the right prayer, you get your ticket punched, as it were.

But that's not what Paul is describing here.

Paul's describing a God whose reconciling work encompasses the entire cosmos.

Everything, people and things, animals and atoms, everything broken, getting to be fit back together.

This is not a God who is interested in saving a handful of souls while the rest of creation burns.

This is a God who is stitching the whole world and the whole universe back in the wholeness.

I think it matters enormously for how we live.

It means caring for creation isn't an option.

It's not an add on to our faith.

It's central to what God is doing.

It means working for justice.

There isn't a distraction from the gospel.

It's the gospel in action.

So when my wife and I are out in one of our wooded trails, one of the parks we like to go, and we're walking through the canopy of trees we like to call it, with light filtering through.

I don't experience that as something separate from God.

I experience a part of the everything that finds its purpose in God.

And Paul is telling us here, the scope of God's love is as big as the universe itself.

So if we shrink it down to just me and my personal salvation.

You've missed the point.

You've missed the whole song.

A second point to ponder.

God's work is about putting things together, not sorting people out.

So look at the verbs that Paul uses here.

He says Christ holds it together.

He says, the broken pieces get properly fixed and fit together.

He says, God, put your lives together, whole and holy.

This is language of restoration and rebuilding, of mending, of integration, not the language of division, exclusion or separation.

You know, I do a cancer related podcast and I hear it from pretty often from people going through treatment.

This feeling of being kind of disassociated or dislocated from their own bodies and from their normal routines, from the future they thought they had and what they need most.

Isn't someone telling me who's in and who's out of God's favorite.

They need to say there's a force in this universe that is putting broken things back together.

And you're a part of that story.

Thinks what Paul is saying here, it's about putting things together.

My wife and I have been married for over 34 years.

We have three grown children, two grandchildren.

And laughter is a big part of that.

And I can tell you none of that wholeness comes from getting everything right.

Far from came from grace.

Holding things together through the seasons when we on our own couldn't hold it together.

That's the crisis Paul is talking about here.

Not a gatekeeper, but a holder together.

So here's your action step.

Paul says all the broken and disloding pieces get fit together in vibrant harmonies.

I want you to look at some broken or dislocated piece of your own life and the way you use your time and the way you have your relationships in your community, in your money and your time and participate in some way and putting things back together.

Maybe it's a phone call to someone who's a bit isolated.

Maybe it's showing up for a cause that's about healing rather than dividing.

Maybe it's simply sitting down with someone who needs a friend to talk to you for a little bit.

Maybe someone whose life is falling apart a little bit and saying, I'm here.

I'm here to help you put things back together.

You don't have to fix everything in the whole cosmos, but maybe, just maybe, pick up one piece and help somebody, maybe yourself, put it back together.

We're going to pray here in just a minute.

Before we do, just a quick reminder.

We have a great resource for you called the ABC 123 Bible study method.

Love to share it with you.

Head over to our website, voiceofgoddaily.com you can pick it up there.

Let's pray.

God, in many ways this passage takes our breath away.

And if we let it.

So you're holding everything together.

Everything from the atoms to the galaxies, from the people we love to the strangers we've just met.

Forgive us from times when we tried to shrink you down to fit our categories, our teams, our in groups, expand our imaginations.

Today, for anyone listening who feels like one of those broken, dislocated pieces, it feels like they're come apart and can't find where they fit.

Would you remind him that the whole project is about putting things back together?

You haven't forgotten them.

You haven't forgotten me.

You haven't given up on them or us and for all of us.

Give us the courage to join you in this mending process.

Help us hold things together.

Family, neighborhoods, our world.

Not because we're strong enough, but because we are caught up in something bigger than ourselves.

We're grateful we're listening.

Amen.

My friend.

I am delighted you chose to join me for today's reading.

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My name is Dr. Brad Miller and I'll be right here tomorrow with your Daily Bible Refresh.

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Remember, God's loyal love doesn't run out.

His merciful love hasn't dried up, it's created new every morning.