THE CHRISTIAN LIFE
COLOSSIANS 2:6-7
In the previous week, we were urged by the Word of God to take hold of the life for which Jesus took hold of us. Colossians 2:6-7 sum up succinctly what that means.
Firstly the foundation, which is the Gospel. Jesus sacrificed himself to cancel out my debt of sin, past, present and future. In its place, he shares with us his righteousness—we are perfect because he is perfect. God adopts us as his children and commits himself to love us, for the sake of his Son, and sends us his Holy Spirit. To enjoy all these, we believe that Jesus’ offer is true, and so we renounce sin and we submit ourselves to become disciples of Jesus.
Secondly the life that we build, which is our sanctification. Paul tells us to continue to live our lives in him. It implies that the foundation is not something that happens and then it is behind us. The foundation is really the engine for our sanctification and we need to keep it running. Again and again as we build the life that Jesus won for us, we will need to return to the foundation to be reminded that we are forgiven, that we are righteous, that we are loved, that we have the Holy Spirit. These are our roots.
At the same time we are also to continue as disciples of Jesus; we are to be following him. In order to be truly following him (and not our notions of him), we must be taught by him; we need to know his mind and his heart as revealed to us in the Bible. As we follow him, our lives are thus shaped by his mind and his heart.
Finally, we continue the spirit of thankfulness that was there when we first received the Gospel and responded to it. We are thankful because we were shown mercy, we were shown love and we were the beneficiaries of God’s generosity towards us. God is not a harsh school master always berating us because we do not measure up to his standards—we would never be thankful to such a God! No, we continue to be thankful because we continue to be blessed by his mercy, his love and his generosity, without which we would have floundered a long time ago. Such thankfulness keeps us on the right path, having the right attitude and spurs us to work hard because we are grateful for his sacrifice for our sake.
We are constantly inundated with many imperatives and many calls to this cause and that program. Let us not lose sight of what fundamentally is our primary focus as Christians—Jesus Christ. “This is my Son, whom I have chosen; listen to him.” (Luke 9:35)
So then, (as we enter a new year), just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live your lives in him, rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness.