Gracious God of all blessings, be glorified in the needs and life of this dear reader today; in Christ Jesus I pray, amen.
Our text comes from Colossians 2:11-17: 11 In him also you were circumcised with a spiritual circumcision, by putting off the body of the flesh in the circumcision of Christ; 12 when you were buried with him in baptism, you were also raised with him through faith in the power of God, who raised him from the dead. 13 And when you were dead in trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made you alive together with him, when he forgave us all our trespasses, 14 erasing the record that stood against us with its legal demands. He set this aside, nailing it to the cross. 15 He disarmed the rulers and authorities and made a public example of them, triumphing over them in it. 16 Therefore do not let anyone condemn you in matters of food and drink or of observing festivals, new moons, or sabbaths. 17 These are only a shadow of what is to come, but the substance belongs to Christ.
If you think about it the Bible talks a lot of painful physical things that can and have happened to people in its pages. Abraham had to go back and inform the men and boys of his tribe that in order to have a God they needed to undergo circumcision and then there's the matter of crucifixion that Christ endured for our sins. The act of circumcision was an act of faith and a sign of the covenant between God and ourselves; the murderous act of crucifixion was the ultimate sacrifice of God's sacrificial Lamb for final payment of our sinfulness. The question then is what are we doing about it? How are we living our lives in response to such news? For Paul, the challenge was to counter people's beliefs in Colossae about the body being inherently evil and to counter that painful things had to be done to the body to remove them. Paul reminds the believers that Christ's act had already paid their price and nothing further, but faith, was required on their part. No satisfaction of any earthly demands by any group was needed. We were once dead in our trespasses, now we're alive. No one can condemn us in any matter. Jesus Christ has already taken care of that for us.
PRAYER: Loving God, we thank You for Jesus and all that He did for us. We pray that He would continue through us to reach more and do more. Help us to be the people You've called us to be. In Jesus Christ's precious name we pray, amen.
Have a great and blessed day in the Lord.
Eradio Valverde
