“Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of your evil behavior. But now he has reconciled you by Christ’s physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation - if you continue in your faith, established and firm, and do not move from the hope held out in the gospel.” (Colossians 1:21-23)
Colossae, though a small town 100 miles inland from the port city of Ephesus, still had problems within its Christian community that Paul was compelled to address. A false teaching which allowed that strict legalistic self-denial would protect the believers from evil powers had surfaced. Paul chose to combat this doctrine with a reiteration of the sovereignty of Christ. Sovereignty, in this case, means supreme power.
In the above scriptures, Paul is reminding the Colossian believers that they were once apart from God and enemies of His due to their sinful behavior. The death of Christ’s body on the cross offered a way for them and us today to be brought back into right relationship with our Creator. When individuals receive the forgiveness Christ offers they are immediately seen as holy in God’s sight and the gap between creature and Creator has been bridged. Not only are we seen as holy, but completely free of all sin. As if that were not good enough, our past sins shall never be held against us in the future. We are forgiven and God chooses not to remember it against us ever again.
Paul alerts his readers that we are not in a ‘one and done’ situation, but that we must continue on in our faith; we are to allow our faith to grow. To do this we must not move from the hope given to us in the gospel. We must read the scriptures to maintain a level of continuity; an uninterrupted connection with our God, for to not do so would cause us to shrivel and die spiritually. Just like our physical bodies need sustenance, so our spirit requires spiritual food. This is found in reading the Bible and being in tune with other positive Christian influences around us. A well-crafted, spirit infused sermon can provide food, as can the lyrics from hymns and contemporary Christian songs. Churches that spend time worshipping God feed the spirit also. So you see we have a part to play in our own spiritual growth. Like a garden, where one must cultivate the soil and tend to the seedlings planted to as to see it come into full bloom, we must do nothing less to see our faith come into full bloom even in the face of life’s problems.
WALK WITH THE KING TODAY AND BE A BLESSING!
