Faith in the Word

DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL OF JOHN

FAITH IN THE WORD

John 1:1-5

1:1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was with God in the beginning.

3 Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. 4 In him was life, and that life was the light of men. 5 The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it.

NIV

In the beginning, was the Logos. What we really need to first deal with is the beginning. The Greek word which is translated beginning carries the meaning of the absolutely the beginning of all things. God is not a thing and therefore he was before the beginning of all things. He is not included in all things which had a beginning. This is possibly the most difficult concept for us humans, who are part of all things that had a beginning, to understand, fully comprehend that God never had a beginning, or that he has always been. Whoever God is, whatever form he has, he has always lived. John wants his reader to understand the Logos or the Word was in the beginning. He is using this term to reference Jesus. So then John is saying that in the beginning was Jesus and Jesus was with God and Jesus was God, He was with God in the beginning. John is giving us the picture right from the state of the divine nature of Jesus. Although over the centuries there have been various thoughts in the search for the historical Jesus that depicts Jesus as a prophet, a great man, a philosophy, and a teacher, but those ideas come from men who lived many years after Jesus living in the flesh. John was a man who lived with Jesus, who walked with him, witnessed all that Jesus did and said. John’s witness is first hand and those we have to give that most credence to what he has recorded. Jesus has always been, before the beginning of what we would call time, as with God time means nothing. He lives outside the boundaries of space and time, however, he created both for us to be able to comprehend life as we know it. All this beginning and before the beginning and has to be taken by faith, as none of us were there. The whole of this argument between creation and evolution is based on faith. We have no definitive human proof of either. We do, however, have the records of persons who witnessed Jesus, and his life, death, resurrection, and ascension, as well as all that he did and said while here on earth. Men say the theory of evolution is based on science, but that science is based on what they, men believe or interpret from their findings of historical items. That is all we will ponder on that, for we have chosen to believe in the historical accounts written by eyewitnesses of actual events that have occurred. Therefore we know the Word was there in the beginning and we know the Word was with God and we also know the Word was God. It is fact, it has been recorded by John as he was inspired by God to write it. We also know, without any reservation that everything that exists, everything is space and time which includes the whole of all the universe we can see and beyond which we cannot see, were made by the divine Jesus as being a member of the triune God, which again, may actually be beyond our ability to fully comprehend. We try our best to attempt to explain what before the beginning was, and who the triune God is, and how all that fits together, but at the end of the day, it comes down to faith in the Word. This is how we have to live, by faith.

Salty Grace

DEVOTION

THE LETTER TO THE COLOSSIANS

SALTY GRACE

Col 4:2-6

2 Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful. 3 And pray for us, too, that God may open a door for our message, so that we may proclaim the mystery of Christ, for which I am in chains. 4 Pray that I may proclaim it clearly, as I should. 5 Be wise in the way you act toward outsiders; make the most of every opportunity. 6 Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone.

NIV

We need to continue on with Paul’s concluding remarks as we looked at devoting ourselves to prayer, however, did not make much of the being watchful. That might apply in the sense of being wise as to how we act toward outsiders, which he seems to mean regarding making the most of every opportunity to share the message with them. The idea is that as we talk with those who do not know Jesus as we do, we should make sure our conversation with them is full of grace, however, seasoned with salt. What does that look like? What exactly does that mean? Perhaps that formula of Dr. Henry Cloud’s which states, “Grace & truth, over time, equals changed lives”. The salt is the truth so that we need to season the truth in a way so it is flavorful. In other words, we cannot beat people over the head with scripture or the bible, calling out their sin, and telling them they need to repent and accept Jesus or they are going to hell. That would not be including any grace at all. The fact is our language, or words should be full of grace. That is the first and primary aspect of our message. It there is no grace, no amount of truth would have much effect, in fact, it might just result in the opposite. The fact is as we live out our faith out loud, so to speak, people just ask us why we believe the way we do. Then we would know how to answer every one because we would be in the act of being wise as to how we are toward outsiders and always speaking with them with words that are full of grace, but still having the truth of God. That would look like what an ambassador of a foreign country does. They speak for their sovereign, but in a diplomatic manner as to try not to offend, yet relay the proper message. They are representatives, speaking not for themselves, not on their own account, but only for what benefits the kingdom and their king, or president. That is our mission, should we decide to accept it, and it is not an impossible mission, but one we can achieve because we have the Spirit dwelling within to give us the right words at the right time to bring about the desired result. So let us be aware of how we act or behave toward outsiders. Let us speak a salty grace.

Living in the Thoughts of God

DEVOTION

THE LETTER TO THE COLOSSIANS

LIVING IN THE THOUGHTS OF GOD

Col 4:1-6

4:1 Masters, provide your slaves with what is right and fair, because you know that you also have a Master in heaven.

2 Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful. 3 And pray for us, too, that God may open a door for our message, so that we may proclaim the mystery of Christ, for which I am in chains. 4 Pray that I may proclaim it clearly, as I should. 5 Be wise in the way you act toward outsiders; make the most of every opportunity. 6 Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone.

NIV

These first words of the chapter should actually have belonged to the previous chapter, as Paul did not write in chapters. He did not divide his thoughts up into sections. These divisions are from some later men for whatever purpose we cannot be sure. Nevertheless, in the working world, as we who might be the employee have seen how we are to do our work as unto the Lord, we also see that those who would be the employer, have a responsibility to do right by the people who work for them. Being a boss or employer carries a great deal of responsibility in and of itself. The affairs or welfare of those who are employed depend on how the business is managed. In most successful businesses of today, the management understands their employees are their greatest asset. If the employer treats the employee rightly, the employee will treat the customer rightly. However, as a Christian employer, it is more than that concept or truth, it is a command of God to be right and fair with those whom they employ. Paul goes on to conclude his letter by making some final remarks. First, he tells them and us to devote ourselves to prayer, being watchful, and again being thankful. This is not those specific times of prayer, such as praying for the pastor before he preaches, or the pastoral prayer during service, or even our own personal goodnight prayer, as many children are taught to do. It always concerned me, how that little prayer of children was so self or I centered. “Now I lay, me down to sleep, I pray my soul to keep, if I should die before I wake, I pray my soul to take” In such a short little prayer I, me, and my, is used eight times. No, it appears the intent of Paul is to live in prayer. What we need to remember is prayer is not intended to be a laundry list we come to God and rattle off then leave and go about our day. Prayer is better described as having a conversation with God. This conversation can go on all day long throughout any activity of our day. What is most important in this conversation is not so much what we say, but what God says. Devote ourselves to be in constant communication with God. We also notice that Paul is asking them to pray for him. This does take the central thought of prayer from totally being self-orientated. We should always be aware of the needs of others and pray for them right at the moment their need is expressed. From a personal standpoint, it is unlikely I will remember their need some hours later, after being distracted by so many other things in life. So it would behoove us to pray right then and there for the needs someone expresses to us, rather than say, “I will pray for you” and leave them going on in the distress of their need. Devotion to prayer is a lifestyle of always being in communication with God and hearing the voice of the Spirit leading us and giving us the right words when we need them for the needs of others and for our own. If we are left to our own thoughts all day long, we could be in serious trouble. We need to live in and with the thoughts of God. Living in the thoughts of God is being devoted to prayer.

Which Reward?

DEVOTION

THE LETTER TO THE COLOSSIANS

WHICH REWARD

Col 3:22-25

22 Slaves, obey your earthly masters in everything; and do it, not only when their eye is on you and to win their favor, but with sincerity of heart and reverence for the Lord. 23 Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men, 24 since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving. 25 Anyone who does wrong will be repaid for his wrong, and there is no favoritism.

NIV

Having looked into the relationships of the family and how that relates to our relationship with Jesus, we move on to this aspect of slaves and masters. Of course slavery in the sense it is spoken of here no longer exists in our culture. However, there is in some sense a correlation between employees and employers that would fit our situation in life. Because we make an agreement, a covenant with our employer, as Christians we are obligated to work diligently at our task whether the boss is present or not. We are told to obey them, to fulfill our agreement to work at that job, or position we have been hired to do and for that certain amount, we agreed to receive as compensation for our labor. We also need to work with sincerity of heart and reverence for the Lord. We have to remember we are representing the Lord and as we work, the manner of our work, the attitude in our work all reflects Jesus. There should be no complaining, no grumbling about the boss, or about what assignment we have been given. We show up on time, perhaps even before our appointed time to work so we are ready to begin when we should. We do not compare ourselves to others or grumble or gossip about their work, or lack of it. Whatever we do, we do to the best of our ability because we are working as though we are working for Jesus. We should rejoice we have the opportunity to work as onto the Lord. Sure, we work and we get paid every so many days so we can pay bills, buy food and perhaps even enjoy some extras in life. Each payday is a reward of sorts for our labor. However, we are told because we work with all our heart, we pour ourselves into our labor, our given task as though we were working for Jesus, we have a far greater reward, an inheritance from the Lord. On the flip side, if we are slipshod or lackadaisical in our work ethic we are in the wrong and we will be repaid for that wrong, for God does not show favoritism. He rewards us for doing our work well, and he rewards for doing our work poorly. The question is for which reward are we working?

Relationships

DEVOTION

THE LETTER TO THE COLOSSIANS

RELATIONSHIPS

Col 3:18-21

18 Wives, submit to your husbands, as is fitting in the Lord. 19 Husbands, love your wives and do not be harsh with them. 20 Children, obey your parents in everything, for this pleases the Lord. 21 Fathers, do not embitter your children, or they will become discouraged.

NIV

Could there have been that much disharmony in the families that Paul needed to make these personal type comments as to how a family should function as to please the Lord? This has to be one of the sections of scripture that has been either misunderstood, or just plainly ignored. Of course, there are cultures in the world where wives are compelled to submit to their husbands under penalty of severe punishment for disobedience. There has been some attempt to enforce this concept in our culture or country in the past and perhaps even to some extent today. However, with the various equal rights movements and women’s liberation that has permeated our society, it is doubtful many wives today feel the need to submit to their husbands. There may always be exceptions, of course, especially among Christian women who read this with understanding and the wisdom of the Spirit. It goes the same with husbands when it comes to loving our wives, and not being harsh with them. This harshness is that brutal, “I am the king of my castle” ideology which demands his wife to serve his every need. Although it is true Eve was created from Adam for the purpose of being his helpmate, she was not to be his servant, but an equal partner in life, however, they had different roles. After the fall, as we call it, God told Adam, not Eve, that he would have to work the ground by the sweat of his brow all the days of his life for their sustenance, because he listened to his wife. Eve, on the other hand, was told she would desire her husband, and be ruled by him, and would have pain in childbirth. God goes into more details than that, but those are the main ideas. This relationship between husbands and wives also serves as the relationship between Christ and his church. Jesus is the bridegroom and the church is the bride of Christ. We could spend a book just on that concept alone, but we also need to deal with this earthy family. Yet, the love that Christ has for his church, is the type of love a husband should have for his family, his wife and children. Jesus did not come to be served, but to serve. Then it would make perfect sense us husbands would be the ones who serve our families. We should be willing to do anything for their wellbeing. The authority is ours only because God holds us accountable for our family. Christ has absolute authority yet he came to serve, not to lord his authority over us. He suffered and died on the cross as the ultimate act of love for his family. The family, husband, wife and, children are supposed to be one unit, living and loving together as they live in Christ. Of course, children should be obedient to their parents and again we notice it is the husband, father who is commanded not to embitter them. Once again, in many homes today it would seem the role of rearing children has fallen onto to mother, however, it is the father who seems to have been challenged not to embitter them, so than it would also seem the father has just as much, if not more, responsibility in rearing the children. What it all boils down to is being who God intended us to be in our family relationships as well as in our relationship with Jesus.

Attitude of Gratitude

DEVOTION

THE LETTER TO THE COLOSSIANS

ATTITUDE OF GRATITUDE

Col 3:15-17

15 Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful. 16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God. 17 And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.

NIV

There seems to be some correlation between the peace of Christ and having a thankful spirit. We notice three admonishments to be thankful, do things with gratitude in our hearts and giving thanks to God. First, we have to let the peace of Christ rule in our hearts. This is not the Shalom peace, but a state of tranquility type peace. This would be the opposite of having a heart filled with anxiety, worry, doubt, and fear. The Greek word translated peace carries a meaning distinct to believers, or the church. It is defined as the tranquil state of a soul assured of its salvation through Christ, and so fearing nothing from God and content with its earthly lot whatsoever sort that be. Let that rule in our hearts since we were called to that tranquil state. Therefore, why would we not be thankful to God? We also have to be thankful because we have, that is if we let the word of Christ dwell in us richly. However, if we do let the word of God dwell in us richly we would be teaching and admonishing one another with all wisdom. It is, therefore, possible to keep the word of Christ from dwelling richly in us. If we are told to do this, it might be possible we are not allowing his word to dwell richly within us. If we allow the things of this world to choke out the word of Christ, we would not be living either peacefully or thankfully. Then we would be living more with anxiety and discontentment. Allowing his peace to rule in our hearts brings us so much more, a life far richer than we could ever achieve from this world. There is also another catch herein having the peace of Christ rule in our hearts and having the word of Christ dwell richly in us as we teach and admonish each other with all wisdom. That is we are singing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs with gratitude in our hearts to God. That could look a lot like church, or at least the time we call worship. However, sometimes it appears there is little joy, happiness, or peace and thankfulness shining through as we sing various words on the screen. Sometimes it appears we are just mouthing the words, but they are not down in our heart. Maybe worship is more than just that time of mouthing words without any expression at all. Maybe worship should be coming from our hearts where the word of Christ so richly dwells. Maybe we should be living every aspect of our lives in this attitude of gratitude and then we would be constantly singing within, always being in the worship of our Lord. In everything we do and say we would be doing and saying in the name of the Lord and always be giving God thanks. Some have said we can thank God in all situations, but not so much for all situations. That theory or position does not seem to hold to the truth of the scripture. Paul made it clear when he said he had learned to be content in whatever the circumstance. It may be true that life, itself, can bring us various circumstances, and it also may be true some of our circumstances may be brought upon us by our own choices. However, we can also see that God, being sovereign and fully in charge of our lives and spiritual welfare, brings circumstances into our lives for his divine purpose. That fact still remains, we need to live with an attitude of gratitude as the peace of Christ rules in our hearts.

Bind Us Together

DEVOTION

THE LETTER TO THE COLOSSIANS

BIND US TOGETHER

Col 3:12-14

12 Therefore, as God's chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. 13 Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. 14 And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.

NIV

Therefore, again refers to the previous comments of putting off the old self and its practices and putting on the new self. We have to remember this activity, whether it be in an actual physical sense, as in behavior, or in a spiritual sense in attitudes or a change of heart and mind, it is something we have to do. No one can do it for us, not even the Spirit. He can only convict us of our sin and once we understand that conviction and respond, he then can lead us into the truth of the gospel message and we respond by accepting Jesus as our Lord and Savior. So then, when Paul says therefore, we understand. He calls these Colossians God’s chosen people, and by extension we then would be considered God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved. Here we have to take issue with those of the Calvinistic persuasion regarding this word, chosen. The Greek word is actually more directly to mean elect, by implication, favorite. However, it is also used directly as chosen, picked out, selected by God. The question of the ages, which has been debated and debated until no uniformity of consensus has ever come to be. There will, as far as we can see, forever be a chasm between the Calvinistic and the Wesleyanistic thought. Predestination or free will cannot coexist in those theological positions. We have to go back to when Paul told them God chose to reveal the mystery of Christ to the Gentiles. They and we are the Gentiles God chose to reveal the truth to about Christ. It is that sense God chose us, not as individuals which when then lead to the fact God does not choose some individuals, but he chose us Gentiles to reveal the glorious riches of the mystery, which is Christ in us the hope of glory. We, all of us who are not Jewish, but rather Gentiles, have been chosen by God to be revealed the truth about Jesus. Thus we are holy, which he has declared, and we are dearly loved. Just to ponder on the fact that God dearly loves us. That alone is almost more then we can wrap our mind around, because we are so unworthy of his love, yet we have his dear love. Because we are so dearly loved by God, and having shed our old clothes, those associated with anger we looked at before, we now must clothe ourselves with compassion, kindness, gentleness, and patience. Having those qualities certainly would lead us into an attitude of forgiveness against anyone who would do anything against us. When we think about holding a grudge, or not forgiving someone, it reflects the idea of thinking more highly of ourselves then we should. It goes back to that life centered from being angry rather than being centered from love. Paul tells us all those for qualities or virtues mentioned are united in love which binds them all together in perfect unity. We do desperately need to be bound together in the love of Christ. Bind us together, Lord, bind us together in love.

Changing Clothes

DEVOTION

THE LETTER TO THE COLOSSIANS

CHANGING CLOTHES

Col 3:5-11

5 Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry. 6 Because of these, the wrath of God is coming.   7 You used to walk in these ways, in the life you once lived. 8 But now you must rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips. 9 Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices 10 and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator. 11 Here there is no Greek or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave or free, but Christ is all, and is in all.

NIV

Having dealt with the first list in this passage, we move on to the second list. The idea is that once we walked in that city of darkness, making every effort to fulfill our own passions and destiny and we had indeed made ourselves objects of God’s wrath. It was not that God decided to put his wrath on us, but it was because of the choices we decided to accept his wrath instead of his love. However, having decided to change the course of our lives because of hearing that convicting voice of the Spirit, we crossed over to the city of light and life. In doing so, we have to rid ourselves of certain attitudes which can and do cause certain behaviors, for as a man thinks in his heart, so is he. Thus we are to rid ourselves of anger, rage, malice, slander and nasty speech. We should explore these words in Greek and maybe we can get a better picture of those attitudes and behaviors. First, the Greek word translated anger, has the meaning of the natural disposition, temper, character, movement or agitation of the soul, impulse or any violent emotion. It would seem just getting angry is not the fullness of this word. It implies more of the state of our disposition or our character, which would look more like always being angry at life, more than at people. That might suggest always being discontent with our life, even angry with who we are, and how we live.  Rage, on the other hand, is striking out in angry heat against others. It may well be the result of anger within the soul. Malice then becomes the next step in striking out at someone, having enough ill-will toward them we desire to inflict injury upon them. This is most likely not in the physical sense, but more in an emotional or mental way. Which might well appear in the form of slander, which is speech that is injurious to another’s good name, as the Greek word implies. When it gets right down to it that type of speech is the filthy language coming from our lips. It is foul speaking, low and obscene, shameful speaking, which is what the Greek word translated filthy language means. It would seem all these are not independent of each other, but rather a progression of being a person with anger inside their soul, where truth does not reside, but only lies, which are the tool, no, the native tongue of the evil one. So then we have taken off that self, and we have clothed ourselves with the new self, which is actually clothing ourselves with Christ. Once we have taken off that old self and clothed ourselves in Christ, we live free of all that anger deep within us, and we are free to love the Lord with every fiber of our being and to love our neighbor as ourselves. Ah, there is the rub, we must love ourselves, which means we have put off the old angry inner being and put on the peace of Christ in our lives. Then everything else living in the city of light and life falls neatly into place, for Christ is in all and all are in Christ. So it comes down to simply changing clothes.

Putting to Death

DEVOTION

THE LETTER TO THE COLOSSIANS

PUTTING TO DEATH

 Col 3:5-11

5 Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry. 6 Because of these, the wrath of God is coming.   7 You used to walk in these ways, in the life you once lived. 8 But now you must rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips. 9 Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices 10 and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator. 11 Here there is no Greek or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave or free, but Christ is all, and is in all.

NIV

Since we are no longer setting our minds on the things of this world, but rather setting our minds and hearts on things of heaven, we are to put to death certain attitudes and behaviors. Before becoming a believer, the idea is that we partook in such activities, or at least the people of Colossae did. Although Paul makes it clear those attitudes or behaviors are a part of our earthly nature. We can certainly view all sorts of sexual immorality in our culture today. However, it would seem if a person grew up in a strict Christian atmosphere, they would have never learned or engaged in any kind of sexual immorality or impurity whatsoever. It would also seem every person alive has those feelings at some point in their life, no matter their background. Those who did not get saved until later in life certainly were within one of those categories. It is interesting the list consists of sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry. As Christians, we certainly have put to death sexual immorality and impurity, but it still might be possible we could lust. The Greek word here carries a meaning of inordinate affection, but it also implies that which is a depraved affection, so then we must put that to death as well because that might well fit right alone with evil desires. If we love the Lord, how is it possible to have those other feelings, especially evil desires, which appear to cover all the previous attitudes or behaviors on the list. But then greed is also on that list. It seems it is the only one associated with idolatry. How can a believer engage in idolatry? We have to put greed to death as well. But what exactly does it mean to have greed? The Greek word is used is coveting or covetousness. Jesus used this word which gives it context.

Luke 12:15

 15 Then he said to them, "Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; a man's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions." 

NIV

Again, this has to do with not setting our hearts on earthly things, but on heavenly things. That whole list is about life in the world, life on earth as humans, eagerly fulfilling our own passions, desires and wants. What we have to wonder is if God created us, why do we have those kinds of feelings built within us? Why is that our human nature? Did he not create us with his nature? Yet he created Adam with the ability to choose, or with the freedom to choose, what we would call free will. Is our human nature a result of the choice Adam made, and thus we no longer have the nature of God as a norm? So then we have to put to death that human nature so we can once again live as God intended, with his nature. We haven’t even got to the rest of what we are to rid ourselves of, but those will have to deal with next. Still, it all comes down to putting to death whatever belongs to our earthly nature.

Setting our heart and mind

DEVOTION

THE LETTER TO THE COLOSSIANS

SETTING OUR HEART AND MIND

 Col 3:1-4

3:1 Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. 2 Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. 3 For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. 4 When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.

NIV

We were just told we died with Christ and therefore we should die to the basic principles of the world. Paul goes on now to tell us we have also been raised from the dead with Christ. We are in fact born again a new person, the old person died and as Christ was raised in a glorified state, so have we. Although he could appear and disappear, or walk through a locked door, we are still captive to this physical form, however, our spirit is born again and we should live as though that is true. Jesus had his mind set on returning to the Father and there was a twofold reason, at least that we are told. First, in order for him to send the Holy Spirit to be our comforter, counselor or guide into the truth, Jesus had to return to the Father. Secondly, Jesus returned to the Father in order to prepare a place for us, so that he could come again and take us to that place so that where he is, we would be also. Now, there is also a third reason he returned and that was to sit at the right hand of the Father, a place of honor. This is why we should set our hearts and our minds on things above, heaven, that place where Jesus is seated at the right hand of God. We are told to set our minds on things above and not on earthly things. What exactly does that look like? How do we translate that idea into our daily lives? We still have to get up and go to work, as do that work as onto the Lord. We still have to shop for food and personal items. We need a home whatsoever that is, source of travel, to get to work and the store. We need to be able to live in this life and do the things life requires. But this is not our home, we are just passing through, our treasures are laid up beyond the blue, the angels beckon us from heavens open door, and we can’t feel at home in this world anymore. Our goals should not be about how much we can accumulate of worldly things, whether that be material goods or simply money. Our plans should not be about how much we can set aside for a comfortable retirement, as so many of the radio ads by financial adviser groups’ subject. We should not even set our goal to be a “Good Christian”, trying to live up to a set of rules and regulations, or the traditions of men, as Paul previously mentioned. Our goal should be to be with Christ, to attain heaven and that can only be done through faith in the grace of God, Jesus. Nothing of this earth that we have accomplished or accumulated will matter when Jesus, who is our life, appears, for when he appears, we will appear in glory with him. This corruptible will put on incorruptible, this perishable will put on imperishable. We will be changed in the twinkling of an eye.  Ont this is what we are to set our hearts and minds.

Dead and Alive

DEVOTION

THE LETTER TO THE COLOSSIANS

DEAD AND ALIVE

Col 2:20-23

20 Since you died with Christ to the basic principles of this world, why, as though you still belonged to it, do you submit to its rules: 21 "Do not handle! Do not taste! Do not touch!"? 22 These are all destined to perish with use, because they are based on human commands and teachings. 23 Such regulations indeed have an appearance of wisdom, with their self-imposed worship, their false humility and their harsh treatment of the body, but they lack any value in restraining sensual indulgence.

NIV

This is a continuation of the thought regarding not being forced to comply with the traditions of men about foods and drinks that are acceptable and those which were not. Paul continues with this idea of the law having been canceled or nailed to the cross. Now he tells them and us that since we died with Christ to the basic principles of this world and maybe we should stop and consider just that for a moment. What does it mean to die with Christ to the basic principles or dogmas, as this is the Greek word here, of the world? Jesus is divine, he is eternal, he is the Alpha and Omega, he was there in the beginning and nothing was made that was not made by him. He is the creator of all that is created. However, he came in the form of man, limiting himself to the principles of this world, having to eat and drink and all that is included in being a human. He came as a Jew, living under the Law, as every good Jew would. He abided by all the basic principles of the world, however, he never actually belonged to it. Yet as long as he lived as a human, he adhered to its basic principles. Of course, he may have violated some, such as walking on water, showing himself transfigured, touching lepers to heal them, feeding thousands with two fish and five loaves, raising Lazarus from the dead, as well as some others that could be considered in violation of the basic principles of this world. However, when he died on the cross, he no longer was obligated to comply or submit to those basic principles, especially those from the Law. So then, if we died with Christ, then we are no longer obligated to the basic principles of this world, or what Paul is referring to, the law, which all Jews were to submit to. However, why would we still want to submit to certain aspects of the law? Why would we want to act as long as we belong to this world and abide by its basic principles or dogmas of this world? These principles or dogmas are rules that cannot be questioned, yet Paul says not only question them, leave them behind, for you are dead to them. In Judaism the Law of Moses is dogma. In Christianity, we still consider the Ten Commandments as dogma, a rule that cannot be questioned, an article of faith. However, Christ died and nailed the Law, canceling it, to the cross. None of the Law, including the Ten Commandments have any value in restraining sensual indulgence, or the gratification of the flesh, which better suits the straight sense of the Greek word. This includes all things regarding the flesh, food, drink, rituals, being a good follower of rules and regulations, being honored among men and even an appearance of self-imposed worship, being thought of as being spiritual, and false humility. If we actually died with Christ, then we have been raised from the dead, and now live in the kingdom of God under the rule of Christ in our lives, the basic principles of Christ, faith, and love. So then do we live by faith and love or by dogmas? Are we dead to one and alive to another?

Growth Caused by God

DEVOTION

THE LETTER TO THE COLOSSIANS

GROWTH CAUSED BY GOD

Col 2:16-19

16 Therefore do not let anyone judge you by what you eat or drink, or with regard to a religious festival, a New Moon celebration or a Sabbath day. 17 These are a shadow of the things that were to come; the reality, however, is found in Christ. 18 Do not let anyone who delights in false humility and the worship of angels disqualify you for the prize. Such a person goes into great detail about what he has seen, and his unspiritual mind puffs him up with idle notions. 19 He has lost connection with the Head, from whom the whole body, supported and held together by its ligaments and sinews, grows as God causes it to grow.

NIV

That therefore always refers back to what was just said, that Christ nailed the law to the cross canceling the written code that stood against them and us. In the context of that culture, we would have to consider for the Jews, the law included those foods which were clean and unclean. However, Paul is not writing to the Jews, but to Gentiles who have accepted Jesus as their God and Savior. Nevertheless, the same Jews who were stirring up false doctrines, teaching the Gentiles regarding the need to be circumcised may well also been teaching them about the other aspects of the law. They may have been trying to force upon them all the rules and regulations regarding types of food and drink the law permitted and types it did not as well as various festivals to observe. We still could apply this truth to our lives today as there are many Christians who have developed some affinity to observing certain aspects of the law, whether that be portions of the Old Testament Law or laws in the form of rules and regulations they have extracted from their interpretation or have imposed those aspects from traditional thoughts of the more puritanical movements of the past. Again, we have to take note that a spiritual principle is ageless, while traditions change or evolve with time and cultural norms. Setting our lives on the attempt to obey the rules and regulations and make an appearance of being a “Good Christian” is this delighting in false humility that Paul is talking about. This does not suggest we live in any manner we chose, for that would not be living in a manner that pleases the Lord. But, again, pleasing him is not about living by all the rules and regulations we have burdened ourselves with, placing ourselves under a form of law. Pleasing the Lord is all about having faith in him, doing his will, living under the influence of the Spirit. Sure, we should keep the Sabbath holy, but remember to the Jew, the Sabbath is Saturday and their Sabbath or Shabbat has extreme rules and regulations regarding doing any form of work at all. Having shared a hotel in Israel with Orthodox Jews on Shabbat, even the elevators automatically stopped at every floor and the doors opened and closed without anyone touching any buttons, for that was considered work and would violate the law regarding keeping holy the Sabbath. That is not our custom or interpretation of scripture at all. So then why do we try to keep other aspects of the law when we are not Jews or Gentiles living in that time and space? What some believers seem to do is cherry-pick, out of context, certain verses to make up a pattern they feel they need to keep. If they can keep themselves from certain rules they feel they are being a “Good Christian” which is false humility and they have lost contact with Jesus. We have to be careful not to get trapped by false teachings or the traditions of men. Our goal is to stay connected to Jesus, living in him and having Him live in us. Are there truths that guide our conduct? Absolutely! Jesus has told us that we are to love the Lord our God with every fiber of our being and to love our neighbor as ourselves. He made sure we understood all the law, all the rules and regulations are wrapped up in those two. This is how we should base our lives, on the love of God and our neighbors. If we could do that, everything else would fall in place. Living in Christ and having Christ live in us allows God to cause our growth.

The Law or Love

DEVOTION

THE LETTER TO THE COLOSSIANS

THE LAW OR LOVE

Col 2:13-15

13 When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, 14 having canceled the written code, with its regulations, that was against us and that stood opposed to us; he took it away, nailing it to the cross. 15 And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.  

NIV

There is no question that we were dead in our sins. We lived in the city of darkness and death and the only course of action in that place was to end up in eternal death, whatever that means. We will not spend any time discussing that death, for we have seen the light of Christ as he called us out of that city across the great chasm by way of his cross into the city of light and life. In that journey from death to life, darkness to light, all our sins were washed away, taken from us, forgiven, never to be brought up to us again. This would also include any guilt or shame for sin. There is not any way we could ever abide by any written code, any law whatsoever, as we would always fail, as we continue to always fail. We know this may go against everything many Christians believe, but it seems very clear that Jesus canceled the law. This would be the Mosaic Law, the written code, all the regulations that were given to the children of Israel. The question which remains is how much of the law was canceled and the answer is all of it. Does that include the Ten Commandments for the whole of the Law may well be based on them? God expanded those ten into all the laws he gave Moses to put upon the people. We know the purpose of the Law. It showed Israel its sin and it continues to show us our sin. There is no way possible to achieve righteousness through the law. It amazes us as to why we believers what to try to keep any of the law, either any of the Old Testament laws or those we devise on our own. It could not be any clearer, Jesus canceled the law which is against us. It both reveals our sin and condemns us for failing to abide by it perfectly. Paul made that same point in his letter to the Ephesians,

Eph 2:14-15

14 For he himself is our peace, who has made the two one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, 15 by abolishing in his flesh the law with its commandments and regulations.

NIV

The law is no longer in effect, for Jesus is our righteousness. We have the forgiveness of sin and are made righteous in Christ. We are saved by faith and we need to live in that same faith. Why we want to impose a canceled system on ourselves is beyond understanding. Of course, this does not mean we are free to live in any manner we want. We are to live a life worthy of the Lord. We are to live a life of love. When we explore how love rules our lives, we have to include that list in the Letter to the Corinthians that is usually quoted at weddings. All that Jesus taught is wrapped up in that list of what love means. If we love each other as Jesus loves us, then all else will fall perfectly in place and we will be living in a manner that pleases the Lord. Let us not burden ourselves with that which we cannot fulfill. Jesus fulfilled it for us, so then let us simply live in Christ, a life of love. So it comes down choosing either the law or love.

The Power of God

DEVOTION

THE LETTER TO THE COLOSSIANS

THE POWER OF GOD

Col 2:8-12

8 See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the basic principles of this world rather than on Christ.

9 For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form, 10 and you have been given fullness in Christ, who is the head over every power and authority. 11 In him you were also circumcised, in the putting off of the sinful nature, not with a circumcision done by the hands of men but with the circumcision done by Christ, 12 having been buried with him in baptism and raised with him through your faith in the power of God, who raised him from the dead.

NIV

We think we could spend the whole of this pondering on verse 8 alone, but it appears it requires the rest of the thought in order to have context. The traditions of men that Paul is referring to here include that of circumcision of the flesh. It was a command of God to the Jews as a sign of the covenant he made with them, but they took it far past far covenant and turned what was meant as a spiritual condition into a religion of traditions. What happened historically to the Jewish people, in fact, was recorded by historians such as Josephus. Having been taken into captivity many times and living under the rules of so many different kingdoms, all pagan, polytheistic cultures, the Jews took on many of the traditions from their captures and ruling authorities. The purity of the Jewish people had been polluted by the traditions of men. This may be also true in the church today. The difference between the purity of faith and the traditions of men is, the standards of God or the purity of faith remain constant, while the traditions of men are forever changing, and evolving based on hollow and deceptive philosophies. As an example, the church once frowned on certain behaviors that have pretty much gone by the wayside, such as dancing, going to movies, or roller rinks. Some still sort of frown on drinking, smoking, and dancing, although they are not preached from the pulpit. We have to be careful not to get caught up in these traditions of men but remain in the purity of our faith in Christ Jesus and his teaching. As an example, when did Jesus ever teach a believer should never dance or go to the movies? When did Jesus teach a believer should not drink? If fact, he made the best wine at the wedding of Cana. This does not mean we can go about living as we wish, that too would be living polluted by the world and its traditions. Simply put, we need to remain in Jesus. What this all means is that through our faith in Christ we allow him to circumcise our hearts. Without being crude, physical circumcision removes a covering over the most sensitive portion of the male body. When Jesus circumcises our hearts, he removes the covering of darkness over it and makes it sensitive to him. Our heart is the most sensitive portion of our inner self. In paraphrase, as a man thinks, so is he, and our heart represents our thoughts, our thinking or attitudes, and our behaviors. We should remember, the early believers did not have the whole of the scriptures to memorize or use as a tool of study to learn how to be a “Good Christian”. What they had was the message of the gospel, that Jesus is the fullness of the deity in bodily form and they have been given the fullness of Christ. This is what we have as well. We have the fullness of Christ, we have followed him in the baptism of water, buried and raised a new creature through our faith in the power of God. God raised Jesus from the dead, and God has raised us from the dead as well. We were dead in our sin, and now we are alive in Christ, through our faith in the power of God.

Overflowing Thankfulness

DEVOTION

THE LETTER TO THE COLOSSIANS

OVERFLOWING THANKFULNESS

Col 2:6-7

6 So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live in him, 7 rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness.

NIV

Everything which was just said is now coming down into this, “so then”. We would have to go back and reread all of what he said to put this into context, but we know the idea. We have the full riches of complete understanding, all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. We are aware of all the false teachers because we are in Christ and he is in us. So then, just as we have received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live in him. What we have to remember is how we received Christ Jesus as Lord. Let’s see, was it by doing some amount of good deeds? No. Was it by changing the way we lived? No. As we recall, we simply believed that we were saved by faith, by believing Jesus died for our sins and we were forgiven and that he came into our heart. We were changed, but not by our doing, it was Jesus who changed us, and not in the sense of our deeds, but in our heart. We no longer wanted to sin, we no longer hated God as an enemy, but now we were his children. But it was all about faith, not about works. So then if that is how we received Christ Jesus, that is how we are to live in him. We are to be rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as we were taught. That is it in a nutshell. We are to live by faith, the very source of all we need to live, rooted, as a tree cannot live without being rooted. Jesus is our source of energy. Paul made that point that everything he does is through the energy of Christ who works so powerfully in him. This is being rooted in our faith, looking to Jesus for our energy in all we do, how we live. It is so easy to get into the habit of thinking about our knowledge, our education, our training, skills, abilities, strength to accomplish what want or think we should be doing. Within the framework of our culture, even in the church, we give so much credence to diplomas, degrees, or achievements, which are required to occupy certain positions or titles. But in the final analysis, our reaching heaven is based on faith in Jesus Christ. How smart we are, how good we are, how much we have done, may have some bearing on how we live out our faith in this world, but it has nothing to do with leaving this world. Our resurrection and ascension into the heavenly realm of God is solely by faith in Christ Jesus. Living like this brings us such joy and peace, and in fact, we live with overflowing thankfulness. We are so thankful our salvation does not depend on how good we are, or how much we do, or how much we know or what title we hold, other than, a child of God. We are so thankful God does not hold any of our failures against us, for we are in Christ Jesus. Just because we were forgiven once, does not mean now we have to remain sinless, for that is impossible. So then, living by faith includes being forgiven for all our sin, past, present and future, until we leave this body, putting off its corruptibility and putting on incorruptibility in our new glorified body. When we live by faith, how else can we live other than with overflowing thankfulness? Sometimes, it can become easy to slip into a state of discontentment, if we focus too much on our situation in life. Our desires, our wants, our goals can become a source of envy, jealousy or even bitterness, but definitely not a state of thankfulness.  So then let us enjoy the life we have in Christ, living with such an overflowing thankfulness, it exudes from within us till it overflows on others. 

United and Delighted

DEVOTION

THE LETTER TO THE COLOSSIANS

UNITED AND DELIGHTED

Col 2:1-5

2:1 I want you to know how much I am struggling for you and for those at Laodicea, and for all who have not met me personally. 2 My purpose is that they may be encouraged in heart and united in love, so that they may have the full riches of complete understanding, in order that they may know the mystery of God, namely, Christ, 3 in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. 4 I tell you this so that no one may deceive you by fine-sounding arguments. 5 For though I am absent from you in body, I am present with you in spirit and delight to see how orderly you are and how firm your faith in Christ is.

NIV

We should first deal with this idea of Paul struggling for them and that they had yet to ever actually meet him in person. It might be more accurate to translate the Greek word as anguish then struggle, as the idea seems to be Paul anguished with God over them because of the false teachers who were stirring up conflict over the truth of the gospel. These false teachers might be the same who he struggled with in his letter to the Galatians, those who wanted Gentiles to be circumcised like Jews in order to be Christians. If this anguish or struggle with God over them is the right way to see this as the context would suggest, the reason he prayed so fervently for them was so they would be encouraged in heart and united in love. This should be the way the church lives today. We should always be encouraged in our hearts, or perhaps we should say that we should be about encouraging each other’s hearts as well as striving to be united as we love each other. There is nothing worse in a church than dissension or division. That type of attitude or behavior will tear a church apart. They are nothing more than one of the schemes of the devil. Gospel is one of the main tools used by the dissenter, who is doing just the opposite of encouraging and uniting others in love. The whole reason we need to be united in love is so we may have the full riches of complete understanding. If we are divided in our beliefs, in our theology, in our faith, how can we ever come to a complete understanding? How can we enjoy that richness of knowing the mystery of God, namely Christ? If we are always arguing over the minutia or tertiary ideas within the scripture, we might well be missing the whole of the truth of being united in love. When we encourage each other in love and are thus united in our faith, we can come to that place of enjoying the full riches of complete understanding. We can know the mystery of God, the fullness of Christ in whom are all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. When we get the truth about Jesus, it does not matter what those false teachers say with their silver tongues, their smooth talk. Paul had to deal with that kind in those days and we still are dealing with these silver-tongued spreaders of falsehoods today. There are too many who seem to make a business of the gospel, making it their tool for success, for personal gain. No, we should be about our Father’s business, which is uniting the church, bringing them together under the truth of Christ. This should be our goal, even among those we are not with personally. As Paul says that although he is absent with them in the body, he is present with them in the spirit, we should feel that same with about those we are apart from physically. In some way, our personal hope is that those who travel this path with us, reading the scriptures and our thoughts are encouraged and united in the faith in love. This unity which brings us complete understanding and the wisdom and knowledge of Christ gives us the strength to stand firm against those dissenters, those who would divide us or tear us apart. There is so much benefit to be united in spirit and to be delighted with each other.

His Energy

DEVOTION

THE LETTER TO THE COLOSSIANS

HIS ENERGY

Col 1:28-29

28 We proclaim him, admonishing and teaching everyone with all wisdom, so that we may present everyone perfect in Christ. 29 To this end I labor, struggling with all his energy, which so powerfully works in me.

NIV

There is something interesting about this word everyone. In the Greek it is made up of two words, every, or all of the whole and man, a human being. There is no mention as to the particular persuasion of the whole of humankind, in order words, Paul is not indicating that he is only speaking or trying to speak to believers in Christ. He is proclaiming Christ, admonishing and teaching every person he comes in contact with, all people, no matter what they currently believe or don’t believe, with all wisdom, so that he may present everyone perfect or complete in Christ. This certainly appears that Paul did not just hang around other believers, but was out and about proclaiming Jesus among non-believers for the purpose of bringing them to Christ and then teaching them with all wisdom how they might live a life worthy of the Lord. We might take his lead on this in the sense of getting out of our comfort zone, which would be just hanging out with other believers, and taking Jesus to those who are in need of salvation. We need to be out and about proclaiming, admonishing and teaching everyone. Of course, we need to do that with all wisdom, which means we cannot just be a blabber-mouth, but we need to sense the right time and with the right words which meet someone’s needs in a real way so they will be sensitive to the call of the Spirit in their lives. Yet, there have been men, like Billy Graham who simply proclaimed Jesus. However, before he would stand in some auditorium or stadium, hundreds of workers would work that city, or area for months before the event. Billboards, radio and television and newspaper ads flooded the city, proclaiming before he proclaimed, and inviting people to hear him speak. This would have been with all wisdom. The idea is still the same. We should be bringing people to Jesus, or rather bringing Jesus to the people. The other interesting truth in Paul’s statement is that he labors, and that word struggling would better mean, strive or attempt to accomplish something, such as admonishing and teaching everyone with all wisdom or bringing Jesus to all the people. But he does not try to do that in his own strength, or ability or training, or because he attended enough “how-to” classes. Paul makes it clear he is striving to this in the energy of Christ, which works so powerfully in him. This is what we need, the energy of Christ working in us. When we take a look at Jesus, he was always about his Father’s business. He was always teaching, always healing, always feeding, and always caring about the need of people for salvation. Did Jesus rest? We do not know, as all we have a record of is his always being about doing something to bring people to salvation and teaching them the truth. Of course, Jesus was God and filled with endless energy as he had created everything that was created. We, on the other hand, require some rest, sleep, regeneration of the body and mind. We also need to spend time being employed to gain income to live. Jesus had supporters who covered his expenses, we need to cover our own. So we may not be able to be constantly about admonishing and teaching everyone with all wisdom, but we can live in a manner which reflects Jesus to the world at all times, no matter where we are, at work, at play, shopping, or even at church. We can always be about bringing Jesus to the people, as the power of the Spirit is at work in our lives and the energy of Jesus is working in us.

Hope of Glory

DEVOTION

THE LETTER TO THE COLOSSIANS

HOPE OF GLORY

Col 1:24-27

24 Now I rejoice in what was suffered for you, and I fill up in my flesh what is still lacking in regard to Christ's afflictions, for the sake of his body, which is the church. 25 I have become its servant by the commission God gave me to present to you the word of God in its fullness— 26 the mystery that has been kept hidden for ages and generations, but is now disclosed to the saints. 27 To them God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.

NIV

We have to remember that the reason Paul is in Rome in the first place is that certain Jews had planned to kill him because he was considered a trouble maker. Paul was insisting that Jesus was for the gentiles as well as the Jews. Because of the charges against him, his only hope of escaping judgment by the Jews, and thus being murdered by them was to proclaim his Roman citizenship and thus had the right to want his charges brought before Caesar. So he is in chains in Rome as he makes this statement about rejoicing in what he suffered for them. All this is recorded for us in the Acts of the Apostles. It is doubtful that we would have to experience that type of suffering for the sake of the gospel. Although perhaps we are not stirring up enough trouble in the unbelieving world to be persecuted as Paul was. There are many Christians in parts of the world who are being killed for their faith, however, not by Jews, but by Muslims. We do have some Christians in this county who have been killed right in their churches. Perhaps the day is coming when we believers will not be so welcome in sharing the gospel message openly. will we be able to stand our ground even under those types of difficult circumstances? The question that arises from considering this is that, as we already suggested, are we conforming too much to be like the world so as to not stir up too much trouble? Oh, we go to church, being in church is not the issue. As long as we confine our faith to the confines of the church building the world does not care about us. It is when we start declaring the gospel outside our building, basically saying that if someone does not accept Jesus, they are going to hell. We might have been cornered, so to speak, into simple saying, “Jesus loves you” as a way of sharing the gospel, instead of He is the only way to heaven, all other ways lead to hell. This is the mystery that Paul says was kept hidden for ages and generations, but is now disclosed to the saints. Although all throughout the Old Testament Jesus is present, he was not openly exposed as when he came to earth in the form of a man. Now all the fullness of the gospel is available to all mankind, both Jew and Gentile. The greatest mystery is Christ in us, the hope of glory. Even though we say we have faith, that we are believers, there is still this mystery as to how Christ is in us. Although we have previously made the point there is no mystery, which is about Christ, there is a certain amount of mystery as to how he is in us. We consider the Holy Spirit as the person who now dwells within us, and that Jesus is now at the right hand of the Father. So then how can Christ be in us? The fact is, Jesus, as we consider him as a person, God in the flesh who ascended into glory, is not actually in us, however, the spirit of Christ, the hope of glory is within us. It is only through this faith we have, this inner conscience of Christ that we have any hope of attaining glory. In that sense, Christ, the hope of glory is within us, in our inner being, our awareness, our thoughts, and heart. We live with that hope, the hope of Christ coming for us to take us home to the place he has prepared for us. So, in fact, there is no mystery after all. It is crystal clear. We live in Christ and he in us and he and he alone is our hope of glory.

Living in the "If"

DEVOTION

THE LETTER TO THE COLOSSIANS

LIVING IN THE "IF"

Col 1:21-23

21 Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of your evil behavior. 22 But now he has reconciled you by Christ's physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation— 23 if you continue in your faith, established and firm, not moved from the hope held out in the gospel. This is the gospel that you heard and that has been proclaimed to every creature under heaven, and of which I, Paul, have become a servant.

NIV

The big “If” is at the core of this truth. However, first, we need to see this truth. Indeed, there is no question that because of the way we once thought and behaved we were enemies of God, but not in the physical sense, as we were enemies in our minds. God has always loved us, but we once hated him. He was never our enemy, we were his. We are the ones who waged war on his way of life, on his standards, on faith, proclaiming it to be a religion of man, only using God for their own self-interests, if in fact, there was a God. We separated or alienated ourselves from God and his love for us. We kept him at a distance and would not have anything to do with him if in fact he actually existed. We know now that we were evil because we were not in Christ. However, we have been reconciled by Christ’s physical body through death. This word reconciled is the exact same word in the meaning of the Greek word. It means to restore friendly relations. Once being an enemy, or not on friendly terms with God, he took the first move, he initiated the treaty through sending his Son to earth in the form of man, to die on the cross, being the perfect sacrifice for our sin thus reestablishing a way for us to be restored into friendship with God. Through the work of Jesus on that cross, he now presents us holy in the sight of God, without blemish and free of accusation. That simply means we are no longer accountable for our sin. When God looks upon us, he sees his Son, perfect in every way, thus God sees us sacred to him, holy, set apart for him and free of faultiness, without blemish, or perfect, and free of accountability of our sin. Now that big “if”, which actually does appear in the Greek. All this truth we can enjoy if we continue in our faith, established and firm, not moved from the hope held out in the gospel. This simply means, continuing to have faith in Jesus, living by faith, and not by works. We must stand firm that it is by faith alone that we are saved, and not by works, lest we boast. This kind of flies in the face of the idea of being a “good Christian”. We are Christians because of our faith in Christ, not because we complete a list of things we need to do right and things we need to not do. We cannot live checking off lists, that would be work, but we must live a life worthy of our Lord and that is a life believing, a life of faith. Sure, we want to please him, and do the work he has prepared in advance for us to do, and what is the work of God? To believe in the one he sent. The one work we have to do, is to have faith in Christ. We cannot be moved from our faith. Nothing can deter us from that faith. We live right in the middle of the “If”. We will not be moved.

Making Peace

DEVOTION

THE LETTER TO THE COLOSSIANS

MAKING PEACE

Col 1:15-20

15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. 16 For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him. 17 He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. 18 And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy. 19 For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, 20 and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.

NIV

What we want to connect to this continuing thought is what he sort of finished with his preceding thought (13 For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, 14 in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins) which is really all one complete concept, yet we have to parcel it out a little in order to ponder all the aspects of the truth. What we have to remember is that Paul is talking about the Son of God, Christ Jesus as being the image of invisible God. Although he makes the statement that Jesus is the firstborn over all creation, we do not think Paul was saying Jesus was actually born, as though he did not exist until he was born, for we are confident Paul is aware of the infinite triune God who has always been. However, we also should understand the culture and time in which Paul lived with all the influences of the Roman-Greco cultures and multiplicities of mystical gods that existed. There were plenty of various philosophies and religious persuasions that came from both the Romans and the Greeks. Paul was making the point that Jesus came before all of them, and in fact, they were created by him. It did not matter how powerful or what kind of authority a ruler on earth had, no matter how much power any one throne had in a country, they were all created by Jesus and he created them for himself. All mankind belongs to Christ, we are not our own, despite what anyone might think, as far as being their own person. Jesus created all things, including us, and he is before us and everything is held together by him. What this means in this crazed culture with its man-centered ideas about climate change, is that Jesus holds the whole of everything together, including the climate. All of heaven and earth were created by him and are being held or controlled by him. They stand in him. Paul moves specifically into the relationship of the church, which is us, believers. Jesus is our head, what rules the rest of our body. He is the ultimate authority over the movement of the church, as our head, our brain is the ultimate authority over these fingers moving over the keys of the computer. Jesus does not exist for us, but we exist for him and all our movements, that is how we live, where we live, how we work, where we work, how we church, where we church, in other words, every aspect of our lives, our goals, aspirations, desires should be influenced by our head, Jesus. He must have absolute supremacy over all things, including us. Now, Paul makes all that perfectly clear for this the one reason that it is Jesus who reconciled himself to his creation. This was the plan from before the creation of time. We would be brought back into fellowship with God by Christ, by the shedding of his blood. It is his act of reconciling himself to his creation, we are saved as we believe in him and his action, his work on the cross for our redemption and his forgiveness of our sin so that he is at peace with us and we are at peace with him. We have to understand that we cannot make peace with God, it is Jesus who is making the peace.

Rescued

DEVOTION

THE LETTER TO THE COLOSSIANS

RESCUED

Col 1:9-14

9 For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you and asking God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all spiritual wisdom and understanding. 10 And we pray this in order that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, 11 being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, and joyfully 12 giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of light. 13 For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, 14 in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.

NIV

It is time to think about being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that we may have great endurance and patience, and joyfully giving thanks to the Father. We can see the reason, for this, but let’s first deal with being strengthened. We still have to connect this strengthening to living a life worthy of the Lord and pleasing him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, and growing in the knowledge of God. It would seem right we would need his mighty power in order to do all that, although we also considered it is the work of the Spirit within us. Yet when we add in the reason of being rescued from the dominion of darkness and brought into the kingdom of the Son he loves, we see the work of the triune God, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit at work in unison within and for our lives. Yes, it is the Father who has qualified us to share in the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of light. He did that through his Son coming to die on the cross for us, to satisfy His own need to justice. There is no question we were once lost in the dominion of darkness. Having known real darkness in the physical sense, complete darkness without a shred of light, as if being blind, we can understand the spiritual darkness we were in before we were rescued by God and brought into the kingdom of light. How we managed to survive in that darkness still baffles us. How we were not completely destroyed has to be due to the hand of God in his providence keeping us safe until we were rescued, knowing in advance we would respond to his offer to come out of that darkness into His light. We still need endurance and patience in this life although he has qualified us to share in the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of light. In some sense, we have received that inheritance as we have already begun our eternal life. In the other sense, we are still captive, so to speak, in this corruptible physical body and must endure its death in order to enjoy its resurrection into a glorified condition. In that sense we need that patience, but with joyfully giving thanks to the Father. We always have the knowledge that we have been rescued from our darkness, our blindness, and we are now living in the light, seeing the truth and understanding someday we will be in glory with our Lord. However, our joyful thanking the Father is also for our present life, living in the light, but also having been redeemed, and our sins are forgiven. God will never bring up our sins to us ever again. That is what forgiveness is all about. We are not held accountable to our sins, they are forgiven. This means not only all our past sins but the ones we still struggle with and the ones we are going to struggle with. Because we do still live in this corruptible body, it will get caught up in some form of corruption which is sin. So then we could say we still live in this sinful body, although we make every effort, at least we think we do, not to commit some sin, we still fail to be perfect. So we need that strengthening by his mighty power and endurance and patience as we continue to walk in the light because we have been rescued.

Pleasing Him

DEVOTION

THE LETTER TO THE COLOSSIANS

PLEASING HIM

Col 1:9-14

9 For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you and asking God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all spiritual wisdom and understanding. 10 And we pray this in order that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, 11 being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, and joyfully 12 giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of light. 13 For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, 14 in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.

NIV

Having looked at God filling us with the knowledge of his will through all spiritual wisdom and understanding, we need to see why he does that. Paul goes on to tell us the reason is so that we may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work as well as much more, but we need to stop here for now. Again it is difficult to segment this whole thought, but if we don’t our thoughts spawned or rather inspired by the whole would turn into a book. Because God has filled us with what he has, there is no mystery considering his will for us and the reason we are fully aware of his will is so that we may live a life worthy of him. It would make perfect sense the only way we could live a life worthy of the Lord is by knowing his perfect will and the only way we are going to know his perfect will is by him filling us with it. There is also no way we could possibly please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work unless we were absolutely positively filled to the brim with his will for our lives. The question which arises out of this thought, is how would those believers have all that knowledge, or how did God fill them? Sometimes it seems we believers think the method by which we can know God’s will for us, is by reading his word. Certainly, his word is filled with all kinds of knowledge about him and his will for his creation, his plan for their salvation and how they should conduct their affairs or rather how they should live by faith. But the people of Colosse did not have the word of God as we do. They did not have multiple translations, with all the reference books and commentaries to help them decipher what others think is the truth. What the believers had available to them is the very same person we have available to us, the Holy Spirit. He reveals the will of God to us in an up-close and personal way, as he dwells within us. If we need to know something about the Lord, the Holy Spirit will reveal it to us. He is the one who began the work in us in the first place and he is the one who is going to bring that work to completion. Sure, we spend many hours, years, in fact, in the study of the scriptures. But, again, the Colossians did not have the scriptures yet Paul prays they will be filled by God so they can know his will in order to live a life worthy of the Lord. What we really need to listen to is the voice of the Holy Spirit because he is who God has filled us with. The Holy Spirit is the person who gives us the knowledge of His will with all spiritual wisdom and understanding. As we allow Him to guide us into all truth we then can live that life worthy of the Lord. Without the Holy Spirit, it would be impossible to live worthy of the Lord. There is no way in our humanity we could live in a manner that pleases the Lord. It is only as we are filled with the Spirit and allow him to bear his fruit in our lives that we are going to live that life worthy of the Lord and please him in every good work. How else are we going to live pleasing Him?