“As you have therefore received Christ, [even] Jesus the Lord, [so] walk (regulate your lives and conduct yourselves) in union with and conformity to Him. Have the roots [of your being] firmly and deeply planted [in Him, fixed and founded in Him], being continually built up in Him, becoming increasingly more confirmed and established in the faith, just as you were taught, and abounding and overflowing in it with thanksgiving.” Colossians 2:6-7 ->me: Since I have accepted Jesus as my personal Lord and Savior, by which He has entered into me to take up residence to be glorified and magnified in all that I do; I must learn to be like Him and reflect His righteousness in all that I do. ‘In union with’ gives me the image of Jesus standing next to me and by association His character and person are influenced in the minds of those around me while here on earth (all that I do reflects on Him – both good and bad). In heaven, it is the other way around…because I am standing next to Jesus, God the Father associates and perceives the character of Jesus when He looks at me. In order to accomplish reflecting Jesus in all that I do, I must be grounded in Him by resting in His strength everyday. When I call on Jesus to be my strength and I feel the internal reward He gives me when I obey Him, my faith and trust and belief are expanded and increased the more I conform to His likeness in my life. I must NOT view the progress I make as something I have accomplished, but be abundantly grateful/thankful because it is what the Lord is doing in me.
[QTVOTD] Defense after receiving grace…
“I say this [Paul earlier made these central and all-embracing claims about the Secret of God being Jesus and what He does in us] in order that no one may mislead and delude you by plausible and persuasive and attractive arguments and beguiling speech.” Colossians 2:4-5 ->me: Paul knows that a work of grace is always followed by an attack from the enemy. One regular form of this attack may take is the clever plausibility of teaching near enough to the truth to be apparently respectable and far enough away from it to be devastating in its effect on individuals and congregations. Frequently in Paul’s letter to the Colossians he stresses the importance of clear and straight thinking. Today, I did not model clear and straight thinking. I got very frustrated with the ‘olders’ today for not obeying a request I had made earlier for them to do before leisure activity. If I had been exercising clear and straight thinking I would see how might have handled things differently. After an apology to them and some time praying to myself upstairs while putting Prim to bed we were able to finish the evening strong. All of this right after I had gotten off the phone with a dear friend, encouraging them in their walk with the Lord. Lord, help me to stay on my road to sanctification; being set aside and bringing glory to You in ALL that I do. (I am once again reminded to quote my memory verse – Psalms 1:1-3)
[QTVOTD] All the answers are in the One in you…
“In Him all the treasures of [divine] wisdom (comprehensive insight into the ways and purposes of God) and [all the riches of spiritual] knowledge and enlightenment are stored up and lie hidden.” Colossians 2:3 ->me: I do not need to look for wisdom of knowledge anywhere other than in the One I already possess. Everything I might want to ask about God and His purposes can and must now be answered – this is the force of this verse – with reference to the crucified and risen Jesus; the Messiah. I think when Paul says ‘Riches and Treasure’ being found in and through the Lord Jesus Christ, he uses those words to entice, me the reader, to explore it with eagerness. I do hunger for more. It is this hunger that also is a constant reminder of how much more perseverance I need to put into finding the fortune.
[QTVOTD] FOLLOWERS – Become one and then make many.
“Him [Jesus] we preach and proclaim, warning and admonishing everyone and instructing everyone in all [spiritual] wisdom (comprehensive insight into the ways and purposes of God), that we may present every person mature (full-grown, fully initiated, complete, and perfect) in Christ (the Anointed One). For this I labor [unto weariness], striving with all the superhuman energy which He so mightily enkindles and works within me.” Colossians 1:28-29 ->me: PREACH, PROCLAIM, WARN, ADMONISH, and INSTRUCT EVERYONE…IN ALL SPIRITUAL WISDOM. Why….so that EVERY PERSON will be presentable as a fully-grown follower IN CHRIST. This last part is the fruit, Paul does not mention any other outcome. This is my goal…not only to become a mature believer IN CHRIST but to be used by God to preach and proclaim His Son.
[QTVOTD] A fabulous ‘Mystery’!
“In it [the church, Christ’s body] I [Paul] became a minister in accordance with the divine stewardship which was entrusted to me for you [as its object and for your benefit], to make the Word of God fully known [among you]—The mystery of which was hidden for ages and generations [from angels and men], but is now revealed to His holy people (the saints),” Colossians 1:25-26 ->me: Paul, not only a servant of the gospel (vs 23) but a servant of the church. For Paul the word of God is a power let loose in the world embodied in the true gospel message. The big ‘Aha!’ for me in this passage was that little bit of research I did on ‘Mystery’. The word of God is the ‘Mystery’ that been kept hidden for ages and generations but is now revealed to the saints…namely Christ IN us…the hope of glory. In the old testament, when the Jews looked forward to a time when God would act in history to restore the fortunes of His people. Some Jewish seers expressed their hopes in terms of the ‘Secret Plans’ that God was reserving for the last great day. Mystery, in the way Paul is using it should not be mistranslated as English might…it is a secret, not an illusion, puzzling, or paradoxical. It is God’s secret plan…not a time table but a person…the person of Jesus Christ. All that God has from the beginning, planned to do, He has done, is doing in Christ, for the sake of His people (you and me). A great support of this is found in 1 Corinthians 2:6-7 “We speak a message of wisdom among the mature, but not the wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are coming to nothing. No, we declare God’s wisdom, a mystery that has been hidden and that God destined for our glory before time began.”
[QTVOTD] Current Age and Age to Come…
“[Even] now I rejoice in the midst of my sufferings on your behalf. And in my own person I am making up whatever is still lacking and remains to be completed [on our part] of Christ’s afflictions, for the sake of His body, which is the church.” Colossians 1:24 Biblically there are two ‘Ages’ referred to: ‘The Wicked Current Age’ and ‘The Age to Come’. I have been cross referencing this passage to get a better understanding of what Paul is saying here. When I first read it I was like, “what do you mean Christ’s afflictions are incomplete, His work of justification was complete on the cross!”. The understanding of the 2 Ages helped me comprehend what is going on so I took all of the information gathered in cross reference and commentaries and built the illustration below (sorry, I know it is rough). Rather than thinking that ‘The Evil Wicked Age’ and ‘The Age to Come’ stand back to back, Tyndale and other writers believe (and now I do too) that these Ages overlap. Jesus’ resurrection had inaugurated the new age, but the old age would continue alongside it until Jesus’ second coming. The whole of the span between the Lord’s resurrection and His return was, then, the period of the turn-around of the eras; and therefore the whole period would be characterized by the ‘Messianic woes’. Such suffering is regarded as evidence that the sufferers are truly God’s new people. So, the sufferings of the church during this time are also the sufferings/afflictions of Jesus since we are IN Him and He is IN us. Just as the Messiah was to be known by the path of suffering he freely chose,, so his people are to be recognized by the sufferings they endure. I like how it is clear from this that we can participate in some of the blessings of the Age to Come while we are here in ‘The turn-around of the eras”.
[QTVOTD] Agent of the proclamation…
“which you heard and which has been preached[as being designed for and offered without restrictions] to every person under heaven, and of which [Gospel] I, Paul, became a minister.” Colossians 1:23b ->me: The ‘hope’ I have is founded in the good news of the gospel. When I heard that message, and God called me; I stopped and took hold of what God through the gospel was offering. This experience is what Paul dedicated his life to in reaching the Gentiles. ‘has been preached to every person under heaven’ -> Paul of course had to know that there were people in the world at that time who didn’t even know who Jesus is…so why would he say this? I think this is anticipatory. If a king makes a proclamation and then sends out his messengers to all of the kingdom to render the news, the fact that he ‘has made a proclamation to the entire kingdom’ stands. God has, in Jesus Christ, proclaimed once and for all that the world which He made has been reconciled to him. His heralds, scurrying off to the ends of the earth with the news, are simply agents, messengers, of this one authoritative proclamation. Am I doing my part as an agent of the Lord to ensure ‘the gospel HAS been preached to every person under heaven’?
[QTVOTD] Genuine faith…
“[And this He will do] provided that you continue to stay with and in the faith [in Christ], well-grounded and settled and steadfast, not shifting or moving away from the hope [which rests on and is inspired by] the glad tidings (the Gospel)” Colossians 1:23a ->me: ‘and this He will do’ -> Jesus will reconcile us to God in the body of His flesh through death…so that He can present us holy and faultless in the Father’s presence. ‘Stay with and in the faith’ – True Christian faith is the beginning of a life which, given by God, will be brought to completion be Him (Philippians 1:6). Genuine faith is seen in patient and steadfast day-to-day Christian living, while counterfeit faith, so hard in its early stages to distinguish from the real thing, withers and dies. God’s point of view is that genuine faith is assured of continuing to the end…while the human view is that Christians discover whether their faith is of the genuine sort only by patient perseverance, encouraged by the Christian hope of eternity with our Savior.
[QTVOTD] Just because I am reconciled doesn’t mean I’m perfect.
“…although you at one time were estranged and alienated from Him and were of hostile attitude of mind in your wicked activities, yet now has [Christ, the Messiah] reconciled [you to God] in the body of His flesh through death, in order to present you holy and faultless and irreproachable in His [the Father’s] presence.” Colossians 1:21-22 ->me: There are 2 awesome points in these 2 verses for me today -> 1) Paul does not talk about any works or ritual we must complete or achieve in order to receive this reconciliation to the Father. So we cannot do anything to EARN the reconciliation; however -> 2) The hostile attitude of mind and hostile activities (which are best portrayed in Romans 1:21-32) follow a sequence…Wrong thinking leads to vice, vice to further mental corruption, so that the mind, still not totally ignorant of God’s standards, finds itself applauding evil. Verse 22 here does not say that God’s action in Christ, and my acceptance of the gospel, have automatically and instantly made me perfect. Having been given a new life, I must behave in accordance with it. This I can do only because of the reconciliation (between myself and the Creator God, the God of Israel) which was achieved on the cross.
[QTVOTD] The totality of the good news….
“For it has pleased [the Father] that all the divine fullness (the sum total of the divine perfection, powers, and attributes) should dwell in Him [Jesus] permanently, and God purposed that through (by the service, the intervention of) Him [the Son] all things should be completely reconciled back to Himself, whether on earth or in heaven, as through Him, [the Father] made peace by means of the blood of His cross.” Colossians 1:19-20 ->me: God was pleased to have His entire fullness dwell in the tabernacle of the body of Jesus where we now abide with Him. The person of Jesus provides the vessel or location that both the Father and His creation can co-exist because of the cleansing flow of the blood of Christ spent on the cross. Jesus was raised because He must live for us to be able to live IN Him. THIS WHY WE WORSHIP!!! Because of the work of Jesus to show that He is the rightful Lord over all things (because He conquered the last boundary – DEATH), it is through Him that the Father will reconcile ALL things back to Himself…this is everything…all of creation, world powers, world rulers, world thought, and anything other form of governance or entity you can think of. I (we) am the first of His creation to manifest that reconciliation through our sanctification. These 2 verses are so powerful! The entire culmination of God’s total plan is summed up RIGHT HERE!!