First Place: Beginning the Year With Christ’s Preeminence and the Priority of Love

We enter a new year with our heads on a swivel—checking headlines, scanning the sky, searching for answers. The James Webb Space Telescope keeps unveiling the cosmos with jaw-dropping clarity, pushing our vision deeper into the beginning of things. That human ache to know our origin and identity runs deep. But Scripture insists that the brightest revelation is not light-years away. The truest seeing happens when we behold the glory of Jesus Christ, who is the Head, the Beginning, the First, and the One in whom all fullness dwells.

Beholding the One We’re Made For

Yes, the heavens declare the glory of God. But the clearest portrait of God is not a nebula; it’s the Son. In a world obsessed with origin stories, the Bible roots ours in a Person: “that in everything he might be preeminent.” Paul writes, “He is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning… that in everything he might be preeminent. For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell” (Colossians 1:18–19). To start the year with wisdom is to start with Christ’s preeminence—to confess with our calendars and our choices that Jesus gets first place.

This is not a vague priority; it’s a concrete posture. If Christ is Head, we don’t improvise the body’s mission. If Christ is the Source, we don’t scramble for counterfeit strength. If in Him we are complete (Colossians 2:10), then the gnawing hunger for identity and meaning finds its feast not in accomplishments or arguments, but in abiding.

Choose This Day: Decisive Discipleship

New years invite new decisions. Joshua stood before Israel and refused to coerce; instead, he honored their agency while throwing down a holy gauntlet: “Choose this day whom you will serve… But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord” (Joshua 24:15). Genuine faith is not arm-twisted; it is decisive, committed, and rooted in conviction.

Servant leaders still lead this way: inviting wholehearted commitment instead of compliance. In a culture of half-measures and hedged bets, the church needs men and women who quietly say—day after ordinary day—“We will serve the Lord.” Not performatively. Not under duress. But out of love, the only motive strong enough to endure.

Love at the Center

When Jesus was asked for the greatest commandment, He didn’t offer a theological riddle; He gave us the beating heart of obedience: “You shall love the Lord your God… and… You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets” (Matthew 22:37–40).

If Christ’s preeminence is our foundation, then love is our blueprint. Love orders the home, calibrates the office, reframes politics, and slows the tongue. It’s practical, measurable, and beautifully inconvenient. To put first things first is to let love walk into every room ahead of us.

• Love God: Prioritize unhurried time with Him. Let worship be your first reflex, not your last resort.
• Love your neighbor: Make room for interruptions. Ask good questions. Carry a burden that isn’t yours.
• Love in truth: Refuse flattery and flimsy sentiment. Speak what is true, and do what builds up.

Help for the Weak and Weary

Here’s the good news for anyone already worried about failing by February: you are not left to muscle this out. Jesus is our merciful and faithful High Priest, a Savior who knows the taste of temptation and the weight of grief. “We do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin.” Therefore, “let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace” (Hebrews 4:15–16).

He not only understands; He helps. “Because he himself has suffered when tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted” (Hebrews 2:18). There is always a way of escape (1 Corinthians 10:13), and that way is illuminated by the presence of Jesus—our Advocate, our Brother, our Priest.

Your Origin Story, Recovered

We ache to know where we come from because identity is tethered to origin. Genesis tells us we were created by God, in His image, for His glory and one another’s good (Genesis 1:27). In Christ, that story is restored: chosen in Him before the foundation of the world, redeemed through His blood, and enrolled in a future where we will see Him face to face (1 Corinthians 13:12). This is who you are: not an accident of the cosmos, but a beloved image-bearer, remade by grace.

So let the galaxies lift your eyes, but let the Gospel steady your heart. The deeper seeing we long for is ultimately the beholding of Christ’s preeminence and glory—now by faith, soon by sight.

A Simple Rule of Life for a Christ-First Year

If you’re ready to align your days with this vision, consider adopting a small, sturdy rule of life—habits that train your heart to keep first things first:

• Behold daily: Begin with Scripture before screens. Read a Gospel paragraph, pray it back, and wait on the Lord in quiet for two minutes.
• Choose decisively: Each morning, echo Joshua: “As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.” Say it out loud. Mean it. Live it.
• Practice love immediately: Identify one concrete way to love a neighbor before lunch—an encouraging text, a meal, a listening ear.
• Draw near when tempted: When weakness hits, run—not walk—to the throne of grace. Ask for the Spirit’s help, and take the way of escape.
• Sabbath weekly: Set apart a day to cease from striving and delight in God. Rest is resistance—and worship.
• Wonder well: Let the cosmos stir worship, not worry. When a JWST image makes the rounds, pause to praise the One whose glory it faintly mirrors.
• Commit in community: Don’t do this alone. Join a small group, serve on a team, and submit your goals to trusted believers.

Face to Face (One Day Soon)

One day the veil will lift, and faith will give way to sight. We will see the Lord not through a telescope, but face to face. Until then, we live in the in-between—choosing daily obedience, keeping Christ’s preeminence in first place, loving God and neighbor, and drawing near to a sympathetic High Priest who never tires of our coming.

So, believer: choose this day. Put Christ first. Love first. And when you stumble—as we all do—remember whose hands hold you: nail-scarred, strong, and open.

Scriptures to Meditate On This Week

• Christ’s Preeminence: Colossians 1:15–20
• Decisive Obedience: Joshua 24
• Greatest Commandments: Matthew 22:34–40
• Sympathetic High Priest: Hebrews 4:14–16; Hebrews 2:14–18
• Face to Face Hope: 1 Corinthians 13:12

He must increase; we must decrease. Happy New Year—in Christ, our Head, our Beginning, our First.

See This Related Post: The Preeminent Christ: Advent Trust, Hope, and Humility