Leadership author and speaker Stephen Covey had a famous illustration where he would bring an audience member on stage and ask them to decide what rocks to put in a clear bucket. The rocks were labeled with things like: Romantic relationships. Career. Development. Community. Service to others. Hobbies. Fitness. Faith. Rest. The bucket was also filled with hundreds of small pebbles representing smaller choices in life. The audience member could never get all the big rocks in the bucket unless the person started over and put the big rocks in first. With the big rocks in first, the smaller pebbles fit in around the big rocks. In many ways, Covey’s thinking was wise—put the most important things in your life first.
In Colossians 1:15-20, the apostle Paul describes who Jesus is—the Image of the Invisible God, the prototype of how to live and how we will be raised, the Beginning, the Creator, the Sustainer, the Head of the Church, and the Reconciler. Jesus should clearly not be treated as a pebble in our lives, as if we could squeeze Him in around the things we have going on. No, He is who He is “so that he might come to have first place in everything.” (Colossians 1:18)
The One who is first should be first. Notice the verse does not say Jesus might come to have first place above everything. Jesus already has first place above everything. The Scripture is encouraging us that He might have first place in everything. First place in your family. First place in your career. In your relationships. In your hobbies. In your finances. First place in everything. Justin Taylor once said we should view life as “Christ in” instead of “Christ and.”
Viewing life as “Christ in” is a paradigm shift and a better way to live than “Christ and” because we are so tempted to view Him as just one aspect of our life, as merely “the faith rock” we put in the bucket of our life. If Christ is only part of our life, then everything else is unspiritual and less significant. If Christ is just one rock in the bucket, then spiritual growth would be about making that rock bigger and bigger. But Christ wants to be first place in everything. When we understand that Christ wants to be first place in everything, we see Christ as not one component of life—but as our whole life.
While I appreciate Covey’s illustration, it needs to be adjusted for the Christian worldview.
Christ is not just a rock in the bucket but the whole bucket. He is not an item on our list but the whole list. Not part of our life but our life. When Christ is the bucket, He gives meaning and joy to every rock in the bucket—to the relationships, career, hobbies, rest, etc. It is foolish to desire any aspect of our life to be separated from Christ and His wisdom and power. To live as “Christ in” rather than “Christ and” is also more clarifying. If Christ can’t be first place in something, then that something does not go into your life; it does not go into the bucket.
“When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.” (Colossians 3:4, emphasis added)
