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The fullness of God's love, joy, peace, and glory dwells fully in Jesus. Everything that was, is, and always will be God, has been, is, and will always be Jesus. He is the God who reveals, the God who reconciles, and the God who restores. Jesus made peace for us by his blood on the cross, and he will come again to make all things new.

As Jesus is lord over this cosmos, so shall he be lord over the new heavens and earth as the first-born from the dead, the only one who was able to defeat death once and for all. There will be no referendums nor any limits to his reign, for Christ is preeminent and he shall reign forever.

Jesus holds all things at a cosmic, historical, and personal level. He is before all things - the cosmos, nature, or kingdoms - and in him all things hold together. His hands both hold the universe, and feed the sparrow. As his beloved creation, we are of more value than the sparrow. When anxiety washes over you, look to the one who holds the whole world in his hands.

The supremacy of Christ over all creation helps us stay curious, practice thankfulness, steward God's world, and worship Jesus as lord over all. There is nothing in all creation that doesn't find its origin and design in Jesus. It doesn't exist primarily for us, but for Jesus. Every planet, every sunrise, every mountain, every valley, every ocean, every heart, and every nation. All things were created through him and for him.

In Colossians, Paul was speaking to a church battling the heresy of Gnosticism, that the spiritual is better than the physical and Jesus was fully spirit yet gave the illusion of having a physical body. To this Paul writes about the pre-eminence of Christ, who is 'the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation.'In Jesus, the invisible God became visible, the cosmic God who held the stars walked on Earth to be close to us. God became one of us. God has written himself into history and the story of our lives, to reveal himself to us and make himself known through Jesus. When Paul calls Jesus the first-born over all creation, he is not calling Christ a creation but reminding us that Christ is first and foremost over all things: every planet, every being, every nation, and everthing in all creation. Is he first in your life, your purpose, your possessions, and your time?

No one wants to fail. We are all trying our best to make this life work but somehow our flesh and this world have a way of catching us out. We will end up finding ourselves amidst our frailty and sin. What do we do then? The prodigal son is the story of all of us. Promised inheritance of our father’s land, we squander our blessings and live life our way, until life doesn’t work out anymore and we find ourselves bearing the weight of our sin and longing for a home to rest. We become overcome with fear that our father would never want us back. Yet, the father is waiting for us with open arms. When he sees us seeking him and facing him, recognising the mess of our life, we are not met with reproach but a father who runs to us. clothes us with a rich robe, and prepares a banquet to celebrate the return of the one who ‘was lost, but is not found; dead but is now alive.’ May we forsake the distant country of this world, and return to our inheritance in heaven, knowing God is waiting with...

The Christians finds themselves living in the tension of two opposing kingdoms asresidents of the temporary kingdom of the world, yet citizens of the eternal kingdom of heaven. We all want to work for the good life, and then to imagine a better world for everyone. Yet, even if we reached that golden age, it will never reach God’s vision in the new creation. So, as we live as exiles on earth, we are to be involved in God’s kingdom on earth, and committed to growing God’s family and our own, but we do this all in light of the eternal. We are to be a city on a hill within the world, yet a people longing for the city of God.

It’s immoral to incarcerate someone indefinitely to deter someone else, but the politics involved with supporting asylum seekers arriving by boat is complex. The dangers of people smuggling, and drowning at sea, are very real. There is also a cost to nations that house refugees, but currently poorer nations like Turkey are carrying the greatest weight of the cost. Rich countries like Australia can afford to pay the price.In the end, the barriers separating us from God and each other has been overcome and overturned in Jesus. If we are moved by justice and care by what is happening in the world, if we would have the same compassion for Ukraine as we would for Afghanistan, South Sudan, and Myanmar, we ought to seek solutions to help refugees feel welcome, and ensure our government has godly wisdom in how they handle these policies. May we welcome well, no matter the story, and be a light to the nations.

Who decides what speech is free? Once free speech is given, it is often forgotten to be shared to others, particularly those who are not in power. Freedom of speech is the right to express an opinion without censorship or restraint. It is a nod to the created order of form and function, but it also accounts for human finitude and frailty. Because free speech accounts for a fallen world, objective truth ought not be legislated because legislation is governed by fallible people. Freedom of speech is in tune with the gospel, and is for love of neighbour. We need each other and the different ways we see the world to best image God to the world. Yet, in sharing the gospel we bring teaching and not a sword, believing the gospel is enough, and being able to share it with gentleness and respect.

Christians ough to reclaim a high view of the world as having been created by God. With one hand God holds the universe, and with the other he feeds the sparrow. Caring for the world does not mean worshipping it, but it does mean we put aside our comfort and ease in order to satisfy the creation mandate of being stewards of the earth. As Christians, we know the heart of the problem. Sin is deadly, and the choices we make have consequences. Creation is subjected to futility. Yet, we take hold of the living hope in the resurrection of Jesus Christ. This doesn't mean we can just sit back and watch the world burn, instead we prayerfully seek wisdom in government, corporate, and individual actions and alternative resources.

We all have the right to life with dignity but do we all have the right to live to die with dignity?Death comes to all, and in any form death is the enemy. Euthanasia is wrong because it claims that a human being loses dignity when it loses autonomy. Yet, the bible makes it clear that every human being has inherent, incorruptible, and unlosable dignity because we are made in the image of God. If life is no more than breathing, it's still a life made in the image of God. Life and death are God's domains, not ours. Jesus is good news now and forever, because in Jesus we have eternal life, a life without suffering and pain and death. A life forever in a perfect immortal body. Until then, we endure through suffering as Christ endured his, showing compassion to those in suffering and caring for the sick and vulnerable, advocating for palliative care and rejecting voluntary assisted death.