Paul in Colossians 1:9-12 encourages the Colossians to "Live a life worthy of the Lord." We are to conduct ourselves in balance with all that Jesus is by bearing fruit in every good work and growing in a personal, experiential knowledge of God. We can be strengthened by His glorious might, filled with thankfulness and in tune with God's will.
The Gospel is the core truth that we are to grasp and to apply to our lives. It is the Word of Truth, containing specific, true information about the substitutionary death of Jesus on our behalf. The Gospel is spreading throughout the world. Let’s proclaim it, speaking with clarity and boldness.
Saving faith has three essential components, all described in Colossians 1:21-23. We must recognize our condition apart from Christ, alienated from God and falling short of His holiness. The next step is reconciliation, in genuine repentance accepting the forgiveness that we could not earn for ourselves. Once we have found peace with God, we must continue to move forward in confident hope, steadfastly walking with Christ.
In Colossians 2:1-5 Paul explains how healthy, mature believers and churches should be established. Church leaders must be vitally involved with their congregation, struggling in prayer for them. Members should have a spirit-generated unity, being "knit together in love," and every individual should be a fully engaged part of the whole. Lives will be transformed as believers grow in their assurance of all things that relate to Christ.
In Colossians 1:12-14, Paul expresses gratitude to God for many reasons, all related to Christ's sacrificial death on our behalf. We have been qualified for heaven, delivered from the dominion of darkness into the kingdom of light. We are eternally forgiven and redeemed from our sins. Our expressions of gratitude should be natural and habitual. Thanks be to God!
In Christ we are saints, not because of what we do, but because we are set apart for God, His treasured possession. We are faithful brothers in Christ, sharing a deep family bond with all who have put their faith in the Lord.
Where are we? We are in Christ, part of a new kingdom, a new mindset. Yet we are also still "in Colossae," part of a particular earthly community. We are called to engage with the world in order to win it for Christ.
It is supremely significant that Christ is divine. More than possessing the attributes of God and performing the acts of God, Jesus is the full totality of God in human form. God became flesh in order that He might deliver, redeem, change, forgive, and rule us. May Christ always be preeminent in our lives.
