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6 My counsel for you is simple and straightforward: Just go ahead with what you've been given. You received Christ Jesus, the Master; now live him. 7 You're deeply rooted in him. You're well constructed upon him. You know your way around the faith. Now do what you've been taught. School's out; quit studying the subject and start living it! And let your living spill over into thanksgiving. 8 Watch out for people who try to dazzle you with big words and intellectual double-talk. They want to drag you off into endless arguments that never amount to anything. They spread their ideas through the empty traditions of human beings and the empty superstitions of spirit beings. But that's not the way of Christ. 9 Everything of God gets expressed in him, so you can see and hear him clearly. You don't need a telescope, a microscope, or a horoscope to realize the fullness of Christ, and the emptiness of the universe without him. 10 When you come to him, that fullness comes together for you, too. His power extends over everything. 11 Entering into this fullness is not something you figure out or achieve. It's not a matter of being circumcised or keeping a long list of laws. No, you're already in - insiders - not through some secretive initiation rite but rather through what Christ has already gone through for you, destroying the power of sin. 12 If it's an initiation ritual you're after, you've already been through it by submitting to baptism. Going under the water was a burial of your old life; coming up out of it was a resurrection, God raising you from the dead as he did Christ. 13 When you were stuck in your old sin-dead life, you were incapable of responding to God. God brought you alive - right along with Christ! Think of it! All sins forgiven, 14 the slate wiped clean, that old arrest warrant canceled and nailed to Christ's Cross. 15 He stripped all the spiritual tyrants in the universe of their sham authority at the Cross and marched them naked through the streets. (Colossians 2:6-15 The Message Bible)
A blessed Tuesday dear Friend, as we walk through the Epistle Lane of Colossians. Hear the practical and hard-driving advice of Paul for the belivers in Colossae. As we pray today, pray for one another; lift up those who have asked prayers from you, including Sheila and Don Chapman of Corpus Christi. Sheila is the office manager of the Coastal Bend District, and she put up with me during my seven years as DS there. I was honored to have officiated at her and Don's wedding. Both received IV infusion treatments for Covid during these last couple of days and our prayers for their rapid recovery. Pray for your needs, and pray for the needs of the world.
The take-away is in the title which comes from verse 6b. "Just go ahead with what you've been given. You received Christ Jesus, the Master; now live Him." There it is! Paul was addressing a congregation where the majority of those reading were guilty of having not taken advantage of what they had received, namely the gift of Jesus Christ. They kept living like they were before they met Jesus, and that's missing the whole point! Paul reminds believers that they are deeply rooted in Him, and they were contructed upon Him; through Christ they have found their way around the faith and the time to live the faith is now. You have been students, you've gotten the degree and diploma, now get to work! I compare it to getting the keys to the church as a young pastor; all your education has prepared you for this, now you have the keys, insert them into the lock, turn the key, open the door and get going! I was just finished with my first year of seminary, came home to Houston and hired to be the summer youth director of a nice sized church. I remember the keys to the church, and to my office, and the situation was now real. I could have chosen to decorate the office to my liking, and taken time just to get to know the neighborhood, or bought more books to decorate my office and make it look like I was a studious youth director; but that was not my calling. I knew Jesus to be my Lord and Savior; He was real and He was serious about our being serious in reaching the world for Him.
The passage speaks the truth about who we might encounter; some who are more ready to engage in verbal exchanges rather than honest interaction with God. Their interest, Paul says, is more in exploring ideas and "empty superstitutions of spirit beings." The believer who realizes what was involved in their baptism and walk with Jesus will only want to deepen their walk with Jesus and invite others to join in the journey and adventure of being a believer. Christ came with power, and is still at work in the world to destroy sin and share the fullness of life. As in Christ you found life, Christ wants you to find others to share life through Christ. Your clean slate should be something that you show others that has blessed you. All your enemies have been, or will soon be, defeated and subdued. Christ is the revelation of the victory that will come and be eternal; ours is the duty to recruit more.
PRAYER: Come, Lord Jesus, and ignite in us that which You have shared for us to be fruitful and faithful and may we win more sinners to Thy glory; in Christ Jesus we pray, amen.
Have a great and blessed day in the Lord. Speak to someone today about how Jesus wiped your slate clean from all sin.
Receive my blessing so hope and peace,
Pastor Eradio Valverde
