Author: Scott Lane

Re:Verse passage – Colossians 3:1-9 (day five)   We added Cliff (who is a delightful yellow lab) to our family about 16 months ago. When he came to us as a 10 week old puppy, he needed to be trained and equipped (discipled) to live with us and in our house. What I discovered about Cliff was when his focus and attention was on me as his master, he was more easily trained. In other words, he learned quicker. He remembered better. He listened more keenly. He was more eager to please me. He would become the obedient dog that I desired him to be. His progress and abilities to be trained were always related to the consistency and intensity of his attention to me, regardless of distractions and disruptions. Still true today.

I think we have that in common. Our attention and focus on “the master” determines our capacity to obey and please Him. “Keep seeking the things above”. “Set your mind on things above”.  Still true today. Does God have your constant and faithful attention/determination?  Do you keep seeking the things above?

Re:Verse passage – Colossians 2:16-23 (day five) They have lost connection with the head,from whom the whole body, supported and held together by its ligaments and sinews, grows as God causes it to grow.

The first danger Paul addresses in this section of his letter, is legalism. Deep within the human heart is the temptation to quantify spirituality.  Why is there such a lure for keeping rules and regulations?  The feeling and desire to be successful is strong the human heart. When that feeling for personal success overshadows most everything else, that is pride.   And the results of legalism are mentioned in verse 19. A disconnection from Jesus. No relationship, no friendship, no communication. Also, no growth. No progress. No discipleship. Legalism comes with a strong warning and a great cost 

Re:Verse passage – Colossians 2:8-15 (day five) “When you were dead in your transgressions and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He made you alive together with Him, having forgiven us all our transgressions,” Colossians‬ ‭2:13‬

Paul paints an unflattering picture as to the spiritual condition of the believers in Colossae before they came to faith in Christ. He describes them as dead. Pretty dramatic and drastic.  Not lost. Not seeking. Not investigating. Dead. What are the expectations and opportunities of a dead person?  Nothing. No hope. No possibilities. No potential. Just “deadness”. It’s very accurate. It’s very humbling. It’s very helpless. Yet when life becomes a possibility, we don’t do anything. We are dead, remember?  It is God who does the work and provides the  power and possibility of life. Through Jesus.  Praise God, that HE MADE YOU ALIVE.  “So that no one may boast”.

Re:Verse passage – Colossians 2:1-7 (day five) 

“having been firmly rooted and now being built up in Him and established in your faith, just as you were instructed, and overflowing with gratitude.” Colossians‬ ‭2:7‬ ‭

Paul practiced what he preached. He lived a life of thankfulness and gratitude. Look at all his letters. Thankfulness and gratitude were always on his mind and heart. Paul reminds the Colossians that thankfulness and gratitude contribute to a maturing faith. Paul describes the consequences of not being thankful in Romans 1:21 “Although they knew God, they did not glorify him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking and their senseless minds were darkened.”

Who are you thankful for today?  What are you thankful for today?  Why are you thankful? Will you express that to God and others?

Re:Verse passage – Colossians 1:24-29 (day five) “We proclaim Him, admonishing every man and teaching every man with all wisdom, so that we may present every man complete in Christ.”  Paul’s goal for his ministry is that every believer would be complete (mature) in Christ. So for Paul’s part, this will require proclaiming Christ, admonishing and teaching believers.  What about the believers’ part?  To become mature in the faith, believers must be willing to do their part. If there is effective admonishing, there must be believers who are humble and moldable. If there is effective teaching, there must be believers who are eager and willing to learn.  Praise God for pastors and leaders who do their part (proclaim, admonish, teach)!  Will we be faithful to do our part, so that we may be complete and mature in Christ?

Re:Verse passage – Colossians 1:20-23 (day five) “For it was the Father’s good pleasure through Him to reconcile all things to Himself”.  Last week’s Re:Verse text ended in mid sentence.  Wanted to make sure we had the right motive for God’s work of reconciliation- God’s pleasure. The work of redemption is one-sided. God does all the work. He sacrifices.  He makes the way. He invites. He calls. He takes the initiative. And in and through all His work and activity, He is “pleased”.  Salvation is God’s JOYFUL work and activity.  That’s a terrific invitation to a lost soul. The opportunity for salvation comes to us with joy and gladness.   Remember, God has seen creation as it could and should be. All of it. And the work of reconciliation of all things brings Him great joy and pleasure because it also brings Him glory.

Re:Verse passage – Colossians 1:15-19 (day five). He is the image of the invisible God.

Wanna know what God is like?  Wanna know His nature and character? Wanna know His heart?  Wanna know what pleases Him?  Look to Jesus. Jesus makes this crystal clear. Without the life and work of Jesus on earth, we would be left with more questions than answers and more uncertainty than conclusions. But God has made a way for us to not only learn and discover who He is, but to know Him and have a relationship with Him thru Jesus. What love and kindness from the Living God to send His Son so that we might see and sense His glory and mercy!!
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Re:Verse passage – Colossians 1:9-14 (day five)  “For He rescued us from the domain of darkness”‭.  I had a professor in college who used to say, “You’ll never know how saved you are until you know how lost you were”. According to Paul’s description in Colossians 1, it was a bleak and hopeless circumstance- a domain of darkness.

As teenagers, we used to play a joke on one member of our group every time we would sing Amazing Grace (Not one of my better moments). When we would sing the first verse, we would all pick one person and sing “that saved a wretch like YOU” (all of us pointing at them). It was really funny to me, until one Sunday I was the one who was singled out as “the wretch”. It was a defining moment.  Not because I felt picked on or targeted, but because I knew (maybe with greater clarity and conviction) it was true about me. I was a wretch. I needed rescue from the domain of darkness. Even as a nine year old.  That’s the  good news and power of the Gospel. A reminder of how lost we were will help us be thankful for how saved we are.

Re:Verse passage – Colossians 1:1-8 (day five)  

Paul writes “Grace” and “Peace” in his greeting to the Colossians.  A mixture of both Greek and Hebrew words and thoughts. Worth noting- different Greek word for grace is used, that points to the work of God.  The Hebrew concept of peace was not the absence of trouble, but rather peace is a sense resulting from having been in the presence of God. Notice the order (important in Greek writing). Grace then Peace.  Paul is pointing out that as we understand and recognize the work of God through Christ in our lives, we then experience the peace His work and presence brings. The temptation is to try to find peace in other places- material, social, intellectual, and spiritual.  Paul is teaching that peace- real peace, is found only thru God’s grace in Christ- a wonderful greeting, important reminder, and a joyful celebration.