Colossians 2:6-15 So live in Christ Jesus the Lord in the same way as you received him. Be rooted and built up in him, be established in faith, and overflow with thanksgiving just as you were taught. See to it that nobody enslaves you with philosophy and foolish deception, which conform to human traditions and the way the world thinks and acts rather than Christ. All the fullness of deity lives in Christ’s body. And you have been filled by him, who is the head of every ruler and authority. You were also circumcised by him. This wasn’t performed by human hands—the whole body was removed through this circumcision by Christ. You were buried with him through baptism and raised with him through faith in the power of God, who raised him from the dead. When you were dead because of the things you had done wrong and because your body wasn’t circumcised, God made you alive with Christ and forgave all the things you had done wrong. He destroyed the record of the debt we owed, with its requirements that worked against us. He canceled it by nailing it to the cross.When he disarmed the rulers and authorities, he exposed them to public disgrace by leading them in a triumphal parade.
I always think and believe it is awesome whenever a person accepts Jesus Christ as Lord. One of the things I have in mind is that I would like to see how this new relationship is going to change the person so God is placed as the central focus of their life.
Truthfully, this is something I struggle with daily because it is so easy to get caught up in what is going on in the world. The feeling felt at the time, and even right after, accepting Jesus Christ can quickly fade as we get back into our “normal” day to day routines. This is where we’ll forget that God is our central focus and that we are actually called to be different from the culture.
Being different from culture does not mean that we degrade others for not believing, or by living a certain way. Nor does it mean that we exclude ourselves and become hermits. Instead, we live in the culture but we do not allow the popular opinions and thoughts to govern how we think and how we act. It can be so easy to follow the crowd; but what if the crowd was walking toward a cliff?
Paul is reminding us that it is Jesus who fills us and that is where we govern our lives from. I have heard a person say “don’t let a book written by men influence how you live your life.” When I hear quotes like this, I am reminded how people have used the Bible to tear down other people who do not believe the same things or live the same way. Quotes like this actually make me sad, because it is also clumping Jesus into this thought.
I believe Jesus changes people. When we allow Christ into our lives we do live differently and the people around us will take notice. We are not the same people as we were before we encountered Christ as we are today and we should be careful to remember that Jesus Christ has made and is continually making us into new creations. We no longer have to live in fear of our past. We live because of the hope we have in Jesus Christ. We continue to have life after we have accepted the life in Christ.
#ToTheGloryOfChrist
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