Preeminent

Today I feel as though I've been moving about a million miles an hour. My day was scheduled from the moment I woke up until well into the night, and it wasn't until I met a few friends for dinner that I finally slowed down and stopped moving.

It felt good to be still for a little while. But even as I took time out of my day to "rest" my mind continued running through my to do list: a paper to write, homework to finish, the fact that I'll need to be up at 5:00 AM tomorrow. All too often I find myself preoccupied with all I need to do that I forget to enjoy the here and now. I have a tendency to busy myself, to fill my schedule with study, meetings, and appointments until there is no time left to simply rejoice in the fact that today is beautiful and that simply living this life is a gift.

There's so much that I miss out on when I schedule my day so full that I get caught up in the busy-ness and forget to step back and worship my God for his grace, his glory, and his presence in my daily life. I almost missed out on so much tonight. I almost went straight back to my dorm to busy myself with studying for the night. Instead, as I stood up from the table one of my friends mentioned that she was going to Sanctuary.

For those of you that aren't familiar with it, Sanctuary is a student-led praise and worship event held at a local Nashville church every Thursday night at 9:00. It draws quite a crowd from Vanderbilt, Belmont, Fisk, and Lipscomb Universities--and for good reason. It's wonderful.

So when I heard that she was going to Sanctuary, I impulsively ditched my plans for the evening (which is very out of character, I like to plan and I always stick to my plans).  And it was the best decision I've made in a long time.

I told a friend from home that I was going to go to Sanctuary, and immediately I received just the spiritual encouragement I needed...in the form of a simple text message: "Enjoy it and take this time to worship with all of your heart." God must have known that I would need that simple reminder because it really convicted me. And so I bid good-bye to the stresses and little concerns of campus for a couple hours and I focused on the chance to join in fellowship and lift my voice in praise to my King.

When we arrived at Sanctuary we quietly made our way to the front and joined the worship. In that dark room, surrounded on all sides by other college students simply worshipping our Jesus together, I was so humbled that it's hard to explain.

The reactions to this worship of our God were many and varied, but each was a response to the genuine praise in the sanctuary. Many of those around me lifted their hands in worship, while others slowly sat down and bowed their heads in prayer. One girl sitting in the seat next to me even stood up and made her way to the front of the room where she danced, joyfully danced, in worship of the Lord Most High.

Surrounded by so many other people earnestly seeking to bring honor and praise to our God: Creator, Redeemer, and Savior--I was struck by the magnificence of my Jesus in comparison to all of the little things that distract me from Him throughout the day. In that moment I was reminded of Colossians 1:18 "And he [Christ] is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent." Different versions of the Bible provided varying translations for this last word of the verse. The ESV calls Christ "preeminent", the NIV says "so that in everything that he might have the supremacy" and the NLT says "so that he is first in everything."

Preeminent. First. Supreme. Christ reigns over all creation: he always has and he always will. But so often in my sinfulness I fail to see Jesus as preeminent. I fail to grant him supremacy over the distractions in my day or the desires of my heart. So, in my sinful inability to see the full glory of Christ, I am made all the more grateful for the faithfulness of my God to patiently pursue me and lovingly remind me of his glorious preeminence over all.