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The Book of Colossians part 9 – Week 19 / May 5th
“As you have therefore received Christ Jesus the
Lord, so walk in Him…..”
Colossians 2:6
Having defended the all sufficiency of Christ’s work Paul now becomes proactive and thus encourages the believers at Colossae to respond appropriately to the truth. He therefore sets forth the true nature of Christian living and does so by emphasizing:
1. The things we put on 3:12-14
Christians who constitute the “elect of God” have to trust the great power of Jesus within them by being obedient to what this Life seeks to accomplish. That is, Paul commands them to “put off” the sinful attributes of their fallen nature and put on “tender mercies, kindness, humility, meekness and longsuffering”. This is in reality is impossible but it becomes attainable when we obey God and trust Jesus in us to make it happen. We have to step out and build “spiritual scaffolding” with our minds and then Christ will change us by giving us the essence of what the scaffolding represents. In other words do what you cannot do and Christ will do it for you! Or, as scripture puts it “be transformed by the renewing of your mind” (Romans 12:1-2) And again, “Christ in you the hope of glory.” (Colossians 1:27)
When the child of God learns to “own Christ” in this way (Ephesians 4:20-24) transformation becomes a way of life that also impacts his relationships with others and enables him or her to love anyone. A community of Christ that lives in this manner will witness the “complaint factor” decreasing and the “unity factor” increasing. (V13-14)
2. The things we let happen 3:15-16
Jesus life in us bubbles up like a fountain (John 7:37-39) and we should therefore “let the peace of God rule” in our hearts. The Christian life is one lived out in fellowship with others and this can be a very challenging business as aspects of our fallen natures get in the way and inject hurt and division into the community. We need supernatural help and God gives it in the form of His peace; all we need to do is let it overflow from our lives.
In like manner we must also “let the word of Christ dwell in us richly.” When we expose ourselves to the word of God, in a manner that it fills our hearts, it too “bubbles out” of us in “psalms and hymns and spiritual songs.” Not only do we embrace one another in these songs but we sing with gladness to our great God who has by His grace saved us. It is worth noting that all the great revivals of history were characterized by new songs. The problem with most Christians today is that they do not live in the Bible and are therefore unable to “rightly divide it.” As a result anything but psalms and hymns and spiritual songs comes out of their hearts!
3. The things we do 3:17
We live each day for Christ and therefore we are to do everything to His glory. Christianity is a way of living and not a way of religious observance. It changes everything about us and teaches us to demonstrate Christ’s life in all that we do and say. This is a high calling and only achievable if we walk each day in the grace of God. This grace of God is brought to us by what Jesus did for us by His death burial and resurrection and we cannot add to it or subtract from it. Jesus is enough!
Malcolm Hedding
©Malcolm Hedding Ministries
2014Devotional Blog