Simply believing.

   His words unfold, infusing my soul with life and light.  I seek to understand...to know him  more.

I read eagerly.  

  Verse after verse pouring off the pages of Scripture.

A rushing river of life-changing truth.

It sweeps over me washing away the filth of deception.


It makes all things clear.


..................................

   Sometimes I read and the words seem so rich, kind of like a chocolate cheesecake I made once that I could only eat one little bite at a time or I would be overwhelmed with it's flavor, almost too lofty for me that I cannot grasp them all...at first.  They are so full of meaning, that I have to read them over and over again.  I have to think hard.  Taking in one word, then one sentence at a a time.  I ask "what is this really saying?!"  A great question to ask.  But only if it motivates you to dig deep beyond the surface.


   Last Friday, Amera and I were talking about salvation and the assurance that God gives us that we belong to him.  As we looked a little deeper into Colossians chapter one, we began to see such a beautiful gospel message that gives us a description of what it means to be a genuine Christian.


   In verse 4 we saw that the people the letter was written to had "faith in Christ Jesus."  That's where it all begins.  Faith is simply believing God.  Believing Christ is the Creator of it all, and the recognition that he is Lord of all, and always has been, though you hadn't realized it before.  Believing that Christ's suffering on the cross was for you, for your sin and that without him you would continue to be separated from God and perish.  

   We see a clear picture of what our condition was before we had faith.  In verse 21, we read...

And you, who once were 

alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds...

   That was our condition before we had faith (trust) in Christ.  This is why we need a Savior.  When my children sin, I often remind them that their sin is the reason that God sent Jesus to be a Savior for them.  We all have the same need.  No one is less in need, no one is more in need of a Savior.  It says in verse 22...

...He has now reconciled in his body of flesh

by his death...

   He has done it.  We have simply believed.  And why did Jesus have to suffer and die?  

...in order to present you

holy

blameless

and above reproach before him.

   It is useless to try to be good so that God will accept us.  Jesus was perfectly good and took all our sin upon himself when he died.  When we have faith in him, then God accepts us.  

Faith in Jesus Christ is the

only way

that you can stand holy, blameless 

and above reproach before God.

   In the following verse (verse 23) we come to the word "if."  I admit that at first this little word alarmed me.  What do you mean "if"?  Is there some sort of condition to this arrangement?  I was just told that Jesus has done everything for me and now is there something that I am supposed to do?  It says...

...if indeed you continue in the faith,

stable and steadfast

not shifting from the hope of the gospel

that you heard...

   To discontinue in our faith, would be to have an unbelieving heart.  It would be to doubt that you are saved, to doubt your relationship with God, that he loves you now and will love you forever.  This doubt causes a person to be unstable because they have no hope.

...as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him,

rooted and built up in him 

and established in the faith, just as you were taught,

abounding in thanksgiving.

   People often try to make themselves good on their own.  Can you imagine what it must be like for a perfectly pure and righteous God to look upon his creation and see people with sin in their hearts, vainly trying to do good deeds and make themselves acceptable to him?  Especially when he has given us his only Son to pay the debt we owe for every sin we have ever committed, whether in thought, word or deed?  

And you, who were dead in your trespasses...God made alive together 

with him (Jesus who was raised from the dead), 

having forgiven us all our trespasses,

by cancelling the record of debt

that stood against us with its legal demands.

This he set aside,

nailing it to the cross. (!)

Colossians 2:13-14

   God did what we could not do.

   In light of this, what is our responsibility once we have placed our faith in Jesus Christ?  We, who are no longer "dead in our trespasses" but "alive in Christ", we, who have received forgiveness of our sins, should daily seek to "walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God..."  Col. 1:10

   He has "qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in light." (1:12)

   He has "delivered us from the domain of darkness." (1:13)

  He has "transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son..." (1:13)

"...in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins."

 He has done it.  We have simply believed.  

We must continue believing.

And this stable and steadfast faith should cause us to 

serve him with the lives he has given us

and to love him from the very core of our being.

He has done so much for us! 

Are we walking in a manner that is worthy of such a 

loving, pure, and faithful God?