"That he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly placed, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come. And he put all things under his feet and gave him as head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all." Ephesians 1:20-23
I had trouble trimming these verses down to just a bit, so I went with all of this! :)
When I read Ephesians 1 the other day the end of the chapter caught my attention. I reread and reread it. Above, under, and over stuck out to me. One powerful thought came with these words: Look Up!
Starting with over, Christ is put as the head over all things to the church. God placed Him there. Too often we try to move Him. We don't like what He says, so we paraphrase it to the point of contradicting it. Some people argue things like, "Christ didn't say..." but He is the Word, so yes He say it. We try to put our own thoughts, feelings, and beliefs over what the church says and does, but we need to put yourselves in the right spot, under His authority. If it doesn't fall under His authority than we need to reconsider if it should be part of us, the church.
Moving on to under. All things are put under His feet. What sort of things are under His feet? Well, number one: satan! He tries to acts as if he has free reign, and sometimes it seems like he does, but in reality he doesn't. Imagine placing your foot on someone's stomach or back. What is he able to do? He can probably wiggle some and can move his arms and legs, but he isn't able to move much. What can he touch? He can only touch what is immediately around him. Now imagine satan under Christ feet. I'm sure he squirms a lot, reaches out at whoever is nearby. I guess that means we should just stay away from him.
Finally, Christ is not just above all rule, authority, power, and dominion, but He is far above. None of those things are even close to Him. They have to look way up to see Him. We need to take ours eyes off of the rules, authorities, powers, and dominions in this world and in the spiritual realm and put them on Him.
When we look up we take our eyes off our own selfishness, opinions, and issues; off of satan; and rulers, authorities, powers, and dominions. We can't see them anymore; all we can see is Him. So look up!
