Category: Colossians

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 3:1-9 (day four)

‘Our life is hidden with Christ’…this is especially true in the eyes of the world.  The world cannot even comprehend the understanding we have in Christ.  We see everything through a different lens.  We see through the lens of the Holy Spirit.  Scripture does not make sense to the unbeliever.  Until a heart is born again in Christ, there can be no truth.

Romans 8:6-8 says, “For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace, because the mind set on the flesh is hostile toward God; for it does not subject itself to the law of God, for it is not even able to do so, and those who are in the flesh cannot please God.”

Unless God draws a man to Himself, salvation cannot come.  We cannot debate a person into heaven and we cannot present a convincing, logical argument to accept Christ that can change a heart.  Apart from the work of the Holy Spirit, man cannot know the Truth!

Re:Verse passage – Colossians 3:1-9 (day three)

“You laid aside the old man.”

Sexual preoccupation, revenge-seeking, fixation on material gain, grudge-holding. Might as well face it, you don’t know any other way to live. Even if none of these exact things are your jam, it’s the way things are done around here. And if you should refuse to give in to such vices, it seems you’ve really left yourself vulnerable to the powerful people who’ve learned the ways of the world. But Paul invites you to leave that way of being completely behind. It’s not that you or I have the opportunity to stop doing bad things, but to become, over time, a new kind of human. Not merely a being who does good things in a bad world, but a new kind of being whose life will light the way for those who knew no other way existed.

Re:Verse passage – Colossians 3:1-9 (day two) Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth. vs. 2

Believe it or not I used to consider myself a runner. I enjoyed my time in distance training, especially in the Fall in the Midwest. One of the things that I remember from some particularly long runs was the tendency to keep my head down. It was during these times that I was constantly focused on how much farther I had to run. My mind was constantly trying to figure out how far I had run and my energy to be able to finish. Those runs never went well. When I remembered to look up it was different. Something about seeing what is ahead and around you that changes your focus. Paul is encouraging us to do this very thing. Look up, get your focus on Jesus. When you fixate on him everything changes.

Re:Verse passage – Colossians 2:16-23 (day seven)

Re:Verse passage – Colossians 2:16-23 (day six) 

…going on in detail about visions, puffed up without reason by his sensuous mind, 19 and not holding fast to the Head… Colossians 2:18b-19a

God always intended to put His revelation down on paper. Something we could hold in our hands, read with our eyes, and come back to time and time again. The written Word is a thousand times more valuable than visions. I’m certainly not saying God doesn’t use visions, at least historically. What I am saying is God knew what He was doing when He put His Word in a book.

You can’t cross reference visions. You can’t know which one is from God, and which isn’t,… unless you check it with God’s written Word. This is why Paul warns against so called visions that originate from the minds of men, and he points us to Jesus, the Head (notice the play on words, mind and Head).

Be grateful for God’s gift of revelation in His written Word. It will never mislead or misdirect, and even when we get it wrong, it will always correct us.

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 2:16-23 (day four)

Legalism, mysticism, asceticism…all dangers to be alert for.  In our passage this week, Paul begins to address some of the problems that precipitated his letter to the church in Colossae.  He is issuing warnings of danger ahead…pitfalls that can sidetrack their/our relationship with Christ and take them/us down a path that can render them/us ineffective and valueless.  Paul speaks of being defrauded…deceived from what is rightfully ours in Christ.

What would Paul warn the church today of?  Where have we been deceived and sidetracked?  Would he caution us about the prosperity gospel?  Would he write to tell us not to place our hope in political parties or candidates?  Would he warn us to focus upon the Word of God and sharing the gospel message?  In today’s cultural and political climate, we can easily get deceived to champion causes that are valueless.  Guard against the perils of Satan’s deception and keep your eyes upon Christ!

Re:Verse passage – Colossians 2:16-23 (day three)

“No one is to act as your judge.”

Paul knows what he’s taking about. He left Pharisaism and entered a religious tradition—Christianity—already beleaguered by the most powerful rules humanity has ever known: unwritten rules. And this was a man who was shaping Christianity in its earliest expression. Even he found himself on the receiving end of condemnation by fellow believers. Paul encountered judgmental voices, and so will you. One of the most inviting ways to respond is to adopt the motto “Judge first lest ye be judged.” Is anybody listening to Paul’s words?