Colossians 4: 2-6
Paul is wrapping up this letter with what he wants us to remember. We've taken off that old dead body and put on Christ, now we are to be in constant communication with God as His children.
(2) Devote yourselves to prayer, keeping alert in it with an attitude of thanksgiving;
We need to pray continually, aware of God hearing us, being thankful for all He has done, is doing, and will do in and through us.
(3) praying at the same time for us as well, that God would open up to us a door for the word, so that we may speak forth the mystery of Christ, for which I have also been imprisoned;
(4) that I may make it clear in the way I ought to speak.
Paul asks them to pray for him, too, as he realizes his dependence on Christ to preach clearly so that his hearers can understand. He is in prison because of his preaching, and he doesn't want circumstances to diminish the power of the words he speaks.
If even Paul feels the need to ask for prayer, how much more do I need it. Pray for me, too, so that I will write this blog with clear dissemination of God's Truth that will help my brothers and sisters to grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.
(5) Conduct yourselves with wisdom toward outsiders, making the most of the opportunity.
We need to pay attention to how we interact with those who may not yet know the Lord. We only have a limited amount of time, so we need to use what we have to the best advantage.
(6) Let your speech always be with grace, as though seasoned with salt, so that you will know how you should respond to each person.
Our mouth gets us into the most trouble, so we really need to watch our words. Take a moment to think how your hearer may understand the words you use, and don't "think out loud" before considering it. Make sure your attitude toward the person is one of seeing them as Christ sees them, as a precious little child who needs to be guided, who may be a spiritual embryo who needs to be brought to the birth.
God chose the human race to be His children, and he is not willing that any would perish, but that they all would come to repentance (I Peter 3: 9). We need to be those who will gently inform them of how much God loves them, to give them the opportunity to turn to Him.
How then will they call on Him in whom they have not believed? How will they believe in Him whom they have not heard? And how will they hear without a preacher? (Romans 10: 14).
We as His children are the preachers who Jesus has sent to tell of our witness of what He has done for us (Matthew 28: 18-20, the Great Commission). We don't have to be pastors, we just need to know how to share what we know, how Jesus saved us and can save them, too.
If the blood of the Lamb of God has cleansed you, then you have a testimony to share with others. John writes about Christians who overcame all opposition, because of the blood of the Lamb and because of the word of their testimony, and they did not love their life even when faced with death (Revelation 12: 11). This is what our Lord asks of us.
O my Father, please show Your children how compassionate You are to this whole sorry human race. There are so many who are fighting against You, being deceived by the devil, who only wants to steal, kill, and destroy. Father, teach us the words to say to our neighbors and coworkers, and even the members of our own families who don't yet know You.
O Father, send us out, send out Your children to confront all those who are still spiritual embryos, seeking to approach the birth into Your family. Enable us to broadcast Your love to the whole world, Father. Everyone must have the opportunity to turn to you. Every person needs to be able to make an informed decision whether to accept or reject Your offer.
Then every eye shall see, every knee will bow, every tongue will proclaim that Jesus is our Christ, the Lord God Almighty, sovereign King over all Creation; to the everlasting glory of Almighty God the Father, for ever and ever. Amen.
Even so, come swiftly, Lord Jesus!
Colossians 3: 18- 4: 1
We have been learning through the previous chapters in this epistle how we are intimately knit together into one body, with Christ as our head; we are close-knit members of the family of God as our Father.
God's order prevails in everything He made. Now we are to apply this important principle to our relationships we have here in this world: our families and work relationships.
(3: 18) Wives, be subject to your husbands, as is fitting in the Lord.
We are the bride of Christ, subject to our Husband, so Christian wives are under the responsibility of their husbands, so must be subject to their authority as head of the family.
(19) Husbands, love your wives and do not be embittered against them.
Husbands represent Christ in the family, so they are to see their wives as sisters in the Lord, worthy of honor and care. I Peter 3: 7 says,
You husbands in the same way, live with your wives in an understanding way, as with someone weaker, since she is a woman; and show her honor as a fellow heir of the grace of life, so that your prayers will not be hindered. (KJV says: weaker vessels.)
Women are not built to have the physical strength that God put into men's bodies, so they could do the work to support their family. My husband was studying this passage one morning, and came to a picture of the woman being a delicate China tea cup, in comparison to the man's tin cup.
This changed his view of me, and instead of seeing me as inferior, he began to see me as a sister to be honored and cherished.
(20) Children, be obedient to your parents in all things, for this is well-pleasing to the Lord.
The only command God gives to children is to learn to obey their parents. Parents are the first authorities children have in life, and if they learn to obey this authority, then they will also be able to obey their teachers, and their bosses and the policeman. They will learn the order of authority, and it will serve them well for their whole lives, because this is how God designed creation to work, everything in order.
(21) Fathers, do not exasperate your children, so that they will not lose heart.
The aim of discipline is not to break the child's spirit, but only his will. Too harsh treatment can damage a child's whole self-image, and can take away his knowledge of his value to God.
Fathers have a great responsibility as the head of their family. They will give account of how they loved their wives, and trained their children. The mother of the children derives her authority to discipline them from her husband, and he has this authority from Christ, his head.
(22) Slaves, in all things obey those who are your masters on Earth, not with external service, as those who merely please men, but with sincerity of heart, fearing the Lord.
This order of authority also extends into the workplace. At that time, there were many slaves who became Christians, and they needed to realize that God's love sovereignly placed them under their masters for a reason. They were to consider that their work was for the Lord, not just their master.
(23) Whatever you do, do your work heartily, as for the Lord rather than for men,
(24) knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance. It is the Lord Christ whom you serve.
Whether we feel like we're in slavery, or working for a slave-driver boss, we are to do our work as Christ would perform the task, with skill and strength, the very best of our ability. We are Christ's hands and feet, to do His work here on Earth. And even if it looks like only your boss will get the profit from your work, just remember that Christ will bring your reward with him when He comes (see Revelation 22: 12).
(25) For he who does wrong will receive the consequences of the wrong which he has done, and that without partiality.
We are all accountable to the Lord, no matter if we are fathers or mothers, employees or employers, clients or mentors, we will give account for how we performed our duties.
We are not to disrespect those who God has placed in authority over us. In today's societies we are free to quit our jobs and get another, or even start our own businesses, so there is no excuse for having uncharitable attitudes toward one another.
We are all to see one another as brothers and sisters in Christ, and to see those who are still lost as precious embryos who are not yet born into God's family. We don't know their hearts. Many times someone may seem mean and cruel, hard-hearted; but we see Saul of Tarsus, who became Paul the Evangelist. God works a miracle every time He saves a person, changing him or her into a new creation (see II Corinthians 5: 17 and Galatians 6: 15).
(4: 1) Masters, grant to your slaves justice and fairness, knowing that you too have a Master in heaven.
Slave-masters considered their slaves to be their property, so they could treat them any way they wanted. But when they became Christians, they were to have a different view of their slaves, as brothers and sisters in the Lord.
Today, we don't condone slavery in the way they did then, so this principle applies to employers with employees. Business owners who are Christians are to treat their workers with justice and fairness, with kindness and compassion, seeing them as sisters and brothers in the Lord.
We all will give account to our Master, our Owner, who has purchased us with His blood on the cross. He will treat us the way He wants, whether to give us rewards or withhold them, with perfect justice and fairness.
No matter what relationship we are looking at in this world, we must recognize God's order of authority, and direct our lives in accordance with it, in every interaction with other people, in every circumstance, whether they are Christians or not yet. We are the Christians, God's family, the body of Christ, and we must conduct our lives with attitudes of being who we are in Christ, as royal sons and daughters in the King's household.
O my Father, You have all authority and You do everything You want. You have made us to be Your children, and You have done everything possible, and even impossible, to rescue us from the entanglements we have gotten ourselves into. Your knowing everything enables You to use Your wisdom in the cleverness of how You do what You do, no matter what humans decide.
There is nothing we can mess up that You cannot untangle and redeem. Father, Your Love for us is above and beyond what we can comprehend. And Your authority over us is absolute. You accomplish Your will. And Your great Plan of the Ages is unfolding before our eyes, to arrange and accomplish everything to set everything up for the return of Your Son.
O Father, we see Your workings in all that You are doing to prepare us and to prepare the world, all the parts are fitting into place to fulfill all that You told us to expect. And You are growing Your church, Christ's body, in numbers and in maturity. We will be complete and ready for our Lord's return.
And every eye shall see, every knee will bow, every tongue will proclaim that Jesus is our Christ, the Lord God Almighty, sovereign King over all Creation; to the everlasting glory of Almighty God the Father, for ever and ever. Amen.
Even so, come swiftly, Lord Jesus!
Colossians 3: 12-17
We have just gone over all that we were to leave behind with the "dead body" of flesh; now we will see what we are putting on with the new life in the Spirit.
(12) So, as those who have been chosen of God, holy and beloved,
Because God chose us as His holy and beloved children, this is what we are to do:
put on a heart of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience;
These are the qualities of our Lord Jesus Christ that the Father is building in us. So we are responsible to cooperate with Him and have compassion on one another; we are to make sure that we are acting in a kind way with each other; to realize our true standing and state, in spite of our original condition; calm our harsh reactions into gentleness; and to cultivate patience when we feel aggravated and frustrated.
(13) bearing with one another, and forgiving each other, whoever has a complaint against anyone; just as the Lord forgave you, so also should you.
Jesus Christ our Lord was tortured and executed for us, so we could be forgiven. Since He went through all that, is it too much to ask that we just put up with a little aggravation and frustration? To consider the source, and let it go? To forgive that person, and not hold it against them any more?
(14) Beyond all these things put on love, which is the perfect bond of unity.
Above and beyond and permeating all of these character qualities is the love that undergirds them all, and acts as an overcoat over all of them. This love for one another because God has Loved us is the basis for everything God does, so it should also be the reason that we do everything concerning our relationships and dealings with one another.
The Spirit of Love is the bond that unites us into one body, with Christ as our Head. As one organic organism each body part is to have care for each other body part. It doesn't matter if we even like each other, when we decide to make the effort to see them in the light of love, then our feelings of liking will catch up with our will, and we will be able to get along with one another.
(15) Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body; and be thankful.
When we all get along, then we are at peace with one another, and we can function as Christ's body, doing His work as His hands and feet and other organs. Then we will feel so much better than when we were quarreling, and be thankful that God planned it that way for us.
(16) Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you,
Let God's written Word, our Scriptures, be abundantly at home in each of us, continually gaining a fuller and richer and deeper understanding of God's ways in this Earth and in each of us, and His great Plan of the Ages, in which He has given each of us a part to play.
with all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another
We are to share our insights into God's word with one another in encouraging them and helping them through whatever troubles they're facing, and leading them into acting and responding in godly ways.
with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with thankfulness in your hearts to God.
We are to sing together and also in our hearts to the Lord. God loves music, He put a whole hymnal in His written Word, the Book of Psalms.
(17) Whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through Him to God the Father.
No matter what it is we're doing, since we're Christ's body parts, we should be doing it in the Name of the Lord Jesus, whether we're having a simple meal, or relaxing or having fun with friends and family.
O my Father, please help Your children to realize that You are inside them in the Person of Your Holy Spirit, and that You go with them everywhere they go, and hear everything they say and think.
O Father, You are Love, and You are aware of each of us every moment of every day. Help us to be as aware of You as we can, every moment, too.
Please send out Your children to all of Your lost sheep, all of Your unborn children who are still in the embryonic stage of life, to let them know how You have loved them, and to bring them to the birth into Your own family.
And grow up all of Your children into the adult stature of the Son of God.
And every eye shall see, every knee will bow, every tongue will proclaim that Jesus is our Christ, our Lord God Almighty, sovereign King of all Creation; to the glory of Almighty God the Father, for ever and ever. Amen.
Even so, come quickly, Lord Jesus!
Colossians 3: 5-11
(5) Therefore
We just saw yesterday how we have
been given a new life that is in Christ and God sees us as already raised and
resurrected with Christ according to His plan.
consider the members of your earthly body as dead to
Since our flesh has been cut off from the life of the Spirit, it is spiritually dead. That means we no longer have to live lifestyles that include:
immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and greed, which amounts to idolatry.
Using our bodies for unrighteous purposes. And putting our first priorities on earthly gain, before God.
(6) For it is because of these things that the wrath of God will come upon the sons of disobedience,
This is why God's wrath will destroy all those who practice these things.
(7) and in them you also once walked, when you were living in them.
Paul says these Colossian Christians used to live like this, before they became Christians.
(8) But now you also put them all aside: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and abusive speech from your mouth.
Paul tells them now to stop thinking in destructive ways toward one another, to change these negative attitudes, that pour out of their mouths as cussing.
(9) Do not lie to one another, since you laid aside the old self with its evil practices,
If we took off the old self like a coat, then we also would have put down all the fleshly stuff that goes with it. Including even "white lies" that you justify as "not wanting to hurt" the other, but are not truthful. No lie is of the truth (I John 2: 21).
(10) and have put on the new self who is being renewed to a true knowledge according to the image of the One who created him--
When we take off the old coat, then we put on the new one, the spiritual life, that is growing and renewing us into a whole new creation, as Christ's body parts. So we're getting more and more like Him as we learn more about how to have His upright character of love and goodness.
(11) a renewal in which there is no distinction between Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave and freeman, but Christ is all, and in all.
In this spiritual life that we are learning how to live, all the fleshly differences that caused divisions will be eliminated. There will be no more nationality or culture or physical differences, because the physical body will be transformed and swallowed up by the spiritual body (I Corinthians 15: 53-54).
So we are to start learning that all the physical differences don't make any difference any more, and all the physical desires to gratify physical appetites don't have any power over us any more. We are to take care of our bodies while we still need to live in them, but we don't have to run to any excesses in gratifying sinful physical desires, the connection that caused the pull has been severed, the addiction has been broken.
We are to turn our focus off of the physical, and onto the spiritual realities that we are growing in. God is growing us up to maturity, so that Christ's body will gain the mature stature of the Son of God (Ephesians 4: 13; How the Body Grows Up).
O my Father, You have thought of everything. Every detail of how You have planned out this whole panoply of creation is working out toward the grand conclusion of all. You are calling us into Your family, You are re-molding us into the image of Your Son, and You will finish everything You started in each of us.
O Father, teach us how to hear Your voice, how to re-direct our lives into the righteous and pure ways of Your Son. Continue to hold our hand, Father, as we walk in Your footsteps along the narrow path that leads to eternal Light.
And every eye shall see, every knee will bow, every tongue will proclaim that Jesus is our Christ, our Savior and Redeemer, the Lord God Almighty, sovereign King over all Creation; to the everlasting glory of Almighty God the Father, for ever and ever. Amen.
Even so, come quickly, Lord Jesus!
Colossians 3: 1-4
(1) Therefore if you have been raised up with Christ,
Here's another therefore and an if. If you have been raised up with Christ, this means that you have died with Christ in His having died your death in your place.
keep seeking the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.
Being raised up, stay above in your thinking processes, with Christ as He is already sitting on His throne. Where we are also already sitting with Him.
(2) Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on Earth.
Think about what is waiting for you above, take your focus off of what will cease to exist before long, that will be destroyed with the Earth.
(3) For you have died and your life is hidden in Christ in God.
When Jesus' blood has washed us clean, then God sends His Spirit into our human spirits, making them alive. This cuts the connection our flesh had with our spirits, freeing us from the bondage sin had on us. So our flesh, being cut off from our spirit, has spiritually died. We no longer are compelled to fall back into that besetting sin, we have another choice now, to do what is right.
And our life in the Holy Spirit is immersed into the body of Christ, who is the Head. We are destined to be with Him where He is, after this human body is transformed.
(4) When Christ, who is our life, is revealed, then you also will be revealed with Him in glory.
Christ is the Head, we are the body; we are all one living organism together. When He returns to this Earth to reign, then He will come in His glory, shining as the sun, and we will be with Him, also shining as His body.
All creation will see us, everything everywhere, good and evil, will see that we are in Christ as His body, and will be sitting on His throne with Him as He sits on His Father's throne with Him.
O my Father, thank You so much for Your wonderful plans for us, that Your intention from the beginning was to create us to be your own children, one with Christ as He is one with You.
O Father, help us to
realize how significant You made us to be. Help us to focus on what You
are preparing for us, that will last forever, rather than on the
temporary stuff here in this world. Help us to live the rest of our
mortal lives here in view of our importance to Your plan.
Father, help us to realize how insignificant everything is in the world, and how to use these little things for the promotion of Your Kingdom.
And every eye shall see, every knee will bow, every tongue will proclaim that Jesus is our Christ, our Head, the Lord God Almighty, sovereign King over all Creation; to the everlasting glory of Almighty God the Father, for ever and ever. Amen.
Even so, come soon, Lord Jesus!
Colossians 2: 16-23
(16) Therefore
We always need to see what a "therefore" is there for. We are to look back at what has just been said in this chapter.
We've just seen yesterday that Jesus has triumphed over all the spiritual rulers and authorities, so we have the victory already in Christ. So now,
no one is to act as your judge in regard to food or drink or in respect to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath day--
We are not to let other people assert authority over us to say that we are condemned if we don't follow their rules, rules that can concern what to eat when or how to celebrate a church holiday.
(17) things which are a mere shadow if what is to come; but the substance belongs to Christ.
All these things, food and days and ceremonies are only a reminder, a picture of what is real in Heaven. But the real substance of it all, its spiritual reality, belongs to Christ as Lord, and therefore to us as His body.
(18) Let no one keep defrauding you of your prize
Paul uses the word katabrabeuo, "to award the prize against," which means that you are not to let someone cheat you out of your reward.
by delighting in self-abasement
This is tapeinophrosune, meaning "humiliation of mind," a putting-down of your self-esteem, your self-worth, or even a harsh self-denial, which will rob you of your sense of standing in Christ.
and the worship of angels,
This is praying to anyone other than God. Some teachers say that praying to the saints or angels will get you an "in" with God, because He already has approved of them. But this places them before God in your thinking, which disobeys the First Commandment of the Decalogue: idolotry. You pray to your god, or you pray to God.
taking his stand on visions he has seen,
These visions could be dreams, or appearances of celestial beings who are suposedly saints. There are places in the world where people congregate by the thousands to receive healings, because some "saint" has "appeared" there. This is totally extra-bibilical, so these dreams and appearances are part of the "traditions" that are given equal weight with Scripture.
We must remember that the devil and his demons are "rulers and authorities in celestial places," and can work apparent "miracles" to deceive and delude and mis-guide. These false teachers in the churches do not have God's Spirit of Truth living in them, so they are believing and teaching the lies.
inflated without cause by his fleshly mind,
These teachers think that they are better or above the people, because of these visions and "special revelations" that they have received from "god." Their minds can only be worldly, because this world is the only world they know.
(19) and not holding fast to the head,
They are not connected to Christ, the Head, so they cannot receive spiritual nourishment or direction from Him. They may think that they are, but the direction they are following draws them away from God. And they want to draw us away, too, to follow them.
from whom the entire body, being supplied and held together by the joints and ligaments, grows with a growth which is from God.
Christ, the Head of the body, nourishes and supports the whole body through the joints and ligaments (which are body parts--us) so the whole body grows with a spiritually healthy growth that is from God.
(20) If you have died with Christ to the elementary principles of the world,
If you really are part of Christ's body, and God has separated you from the power of sin that resides in our fleshly bodies, then:
why, as if you were living in the world, do you submit yourself to decrees, such as,
(21) "Do not handle, do not taste, do not touch!"
(22) (which all refer to things destined to perish with use)--in accordance with the commandments and teachings of men?
Why do you pay attention to these teachers who are telling you that you need to do something or avoid something in order to work your way into favor with God, when God has already favored you with His Son and His Spirit?
(23) These are matters which have, to be sure, the appearance of wisdom in self-made religion and self-abasement and severe treatment of the body, but are of no value against fleshly indulgence.
All these ecclesiastical rules seem to look so good, and helpful to make someone godly; but they are all humanly devised and promote unhealthy mistreatment of the body which is the temple of God if His Spirit lives there. But even if you try to live by all these regulations, it still cannot remove your fleshly desires.
Only the Holy Spirit that God places into our spirit can separate that connection to the power inherent in the flesh to commit sins.
We see in history, that when these false teachers came into the church, and worked their way into leadership of the church, they officially brought in all these "doctrines of demons" as dogmas that were commanded to be believed.
We call this historical period, "the Dark Ages," dark in the intellectual sense that most people were not educated, so they believed whatever their teachers told them. But Christians who could read saw in Scripture how the official church had departed from the truth, and the Reformation took place, and then the next historical era was The Enlightenment.
But the devil and his demons are still working to spoil all of God's good gifts to us, and has drawn away many of the portions of the church even today. Church denominations that taught the truth in the past, through time since then have also gone astray, being deceived and deceving their followers.
As the result of this, there are many people who consider themselves to be Christians, but they don't have that relationship that God wants with them, they only have a religion. Many of these people are in churches that do not preach God's pure Truth, but some mixture of worldly tradition, or misrepresentations of Scripture that lead away from God.
That is why we must do our own research in studying our Father's love-letter to us, to be sure that we really are on that right path that leads to eternal Light. This is our responsibility as children of God, to get to know our Father, so we can live our lives as His royal children. We need to know His ways to do that, we need to think His thoughts for us, we need to adopt His attitudes as our own.
How we think determines our attitudes, and our attitudes affect our choices, and our choices build our habits, and our habits become our life. It all starts in the mind.
This is why we are instructed to;
Be transformed by the renewing of your mind,
because this will equip us to being able to:
prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect (Romans 12: 2).
If you find that you are attending a church that adds to or twists God's pure Truth, then I would advise you to leave that deceptive environment and seek out a different church, one that teaches the Bible clearly.
O my Father, I pray for all those who want to be Christians, but have yet to receive Your pure Truth of what Your Son as accomplished for us. Open their minds, Father, to be able to accept the truth of Your written Word, to realize that Your Lamb of God is their personal sacrifice, soften their hearts to understand how much You Love them, and wash them in the blood of Christ. Draw them into Your family, Father, so that they will have that relationship with You that You desire.
Father, send out Your children, as messengers to cast broadly the good seed of the harvest. Let that seed fall upon all the fertile fields You have prepared, to grow into the abundant harvest You have planned.
Draw all Your unborn children to the birth into Your family, Father, and fill Your great house with all of Your uncountable children. Fill every place at Your great banquet table, that we will all eternally enjoy sweet fellowship with You and one another.
And every eye shall see, every knee will bow, every tongue will proclaim that Jesus is our Christ, our Savior and Redeemer, the Lord God Almighty, sovereign King over all Creation; to the everlasting glory of Almighty God the Father, for ever and ever. Amen.
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
Colossians 2: 15
When He had disarmed the rulers and authorities, He made a public display of them, having triumphed over them through Him.
When Jesus "cancelled out the certificate of debt consisting of decrees against us ... having nailed it to the cross" (2: 14), that disarmed all the "rulers and authorities." There was nothing left to for them to accuse us of, as we'd been washed clean by His blood.
Now that these spiritual rulers and authorities had nothing left to attack us with, Jesus publicly displayed them as defeated, as He "led captivity captive."
Ephesians 4: 8-9
Therefore it says,
When He ascended on high, He led captive a host of captives, and He gave gifts to men (Psalm 68: 8).
(Now this expression, "He ascended," what does it mean except that He also had descended into the lower parts of the Earth?)
This says that He first descended into the lower parts of the Earth, which was commonly understood as being the realm of Sheol, the land of the dead. And that He led a host of captives with Him as He ascended on high, to Heaven.
Luke 23: 43
And He said to him, "Truly I say to you, today you shall be with Me in Paradise."
While Jesus was hanging on the Cross, He said this to the thief who was also being crucified beside him, when the thief asked Him to "remember me when You come into Your Kingdom," calling Him, "Lord." This shows that Jesus knew that He would be going down into Sheol, to the Paradise side, that very day, as He was dying. And that this thief, putting his faith in Jesus, would be one of the "captives" that He would lead to Heaven.
I have dealt with what Jesus was doing while His body was in the tomb in my blog entry, "What Was Jesus Doing?" and I described the geography of Sheol, the land of the dead, in my entry, "Paradise & Hades and Heaven & Hell."
So I am mentioning this material again, as Paul tells the Colossians how Jesus gained the victory for us by His fulfilling that personal sacrifice (in Leviticus 1) on behalf of each of us.
This is a monumental event, in history and in each of our lives, the day that we realize what He accomplished for us.
This is why Paul wrote this letter, so that they, and we, would realize how much God loves us, and to not be sucked into any other system of belief.
O my Father, Your plan for Your creation is so intricate and beautiful and perfect. Everything You do is perfect, it's all just right. Everything fits into place so cleverly, according to Your overarching wisdom.
Please strengthen us, Father, against being fooled by any other, contrary or extraenous belief systems that try to deceive us. Your Son is sufficient, He has already done it all, everything is finished, and nothing else is needed. Our destination is secure.
We only need to regularly wash off the dirt of the world as we walk in it with the water of the Word, while we promote His Kingdom until He returns to claim it.
And every eye shall see, every knee will bow, every tongue will proclaim that Jesus is our Christ, the Lord God Almighty, sovereign King over all Creation; to the everlasting glory of Almighty God the Father, for ever and ever. Amen.
Even so, come swiftly, Lord Jesus!
