Our fourth devotional from Colossians. Read Colossians 2.6-19
As Paul continues in Colossians we are reminded of one of Paul’s first themes in the letter: thankfulness. Our lives as Christians should be expressed in overflowing thankfulness. Living our lives in Christ, rooted and built upon him and strengthened in faith leads us to deep gratitude and joy. The Christian journey is not one of bitterness or disappointment in the things we can no longer do.
Too often, I see people experiencing Christianity as this list of rules they have to follow for fear of making a mistake at the peril of their eternal life. The Christian life is one of freedom and joy found in Christ, expressed in thanksgiving. If you find yourself only following the rules and begrudgingly at times, we need to talk about the life that Jesus calls us to and lives inside each of us.
Paul tells us that “in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form, and in Christ you have been brought to fullness.” (2.9-10). Did you catch what happened in these two parallel thoughts?
Paul is debunking both pagan and Jewish critiques in one fell swoop. Jesus is the fullness of God in bodily form. Jesus is not some half-God, half-man pagan god or goddess. And for the Jewish critique God is still one, because God is fully present in Jesus.
But the beauty of this argument, for the Colossians and for us, is in the parallel statement that in Christ we have been brought to fullness too. Christ complete us. Christ is enough. There is no need for more. There is no need for legalistic thinking on top of Jesus. Jesus is sufficient. The moment we start adding to Jesus is the moment we start losing the point of it all.
Jesus is over and above all things, all powers and authorities, and it is was through his triumph on the cross that he disarmed them. The moment where the powers and authorities of Rome and Jewish leaders thought they were triumphing over Jesus, was the moment Jesus triumphed over them.
So as we join with Christ, and Christ alone, through baptism we too are buried and raised with Jesus just as God raised Jesus from the dead, so God makes us alive with Christ. We are fulfilled. We are triumphant. We are more than enough as we are found in Christ. It’s this language of baptism that will guide our next devotional on Friday.
Until then, may God continue to cause you to grow more and more complete in Christ as Christ is formed in you. May you live into the truth with thankfulness that Christ has triumphed over every power and authority through the cross, and that you have been brought to that fullness too.
Listen to the lyrics of “Crown him with many crowns” as our prayer today:
Crown him with many crowns,
the Lamb upon the throne.
Hark! How the heavenly anthem drowns
all music but its own.
Awake, my soul and sing
of him who died for thee,
and hail him as the matchless King
trough all eternity.
Crown him the Lord of life,
who triumphed over the grave
and rose victorious in the strife
for those he came to save.
His glories now we sing
who died, and rose on high,
who died, eternal life to bring,
and lives that death may die.
Crown him the Lord of love;
behold his hands and side.
Rich wounds, yet visible above,
in beauty glorified.
No angel in the sky
can fully bear that sight,
but downward bend their burning eyes
at mysteries so bright.
Crown him the Lord of years,
the potentate of time,
Creator of the rolling spheres,
ineffably sublime.
All hail, Redeemer, hail!
For thou has died for me.
Thy praise shall never, never fail
throughout eternity.
Grace and Peace to you, Amen.