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In Christ, Mark
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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.
But you must continue to believe this truth and stand firmly in it. Don’t drift away from the assurance you received when you heard the Good News. The Good News has been preached all over the world, and I, Paul, have been appointed as God’s servant to proclaim it.
Colossians 1:23 NLT
This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.
There was a real threat to the Christian church in Colossae. False teachers were attempting to distort and corrupt the purity of the Gospel, and although Paul had never visited the Colossians, he felt impelled to write them in an attempt to stave off the peril at hand.
For the past seven days, we have looked closely at how Paul established Jesus as the One who is supreme over all creation. He wanted the Colossian believers (as well as all Christians) to know that Christ had (and has) absolute authority and is the head of the church. He has no rival or equal and if there would be any change needed to God’s established plan of salvation, He would be the one who would institute it.
With this, there was no need for any Christian to accept any advances that might alter the Gospel or the Word of God that established it. All a Jesus believer needs to do is stand firm, anchored in the perfect, inerrant scriptures and their sovereign Author.
This is Paul’s call as we look at our passage for today, a passage that carries an exhortation to stay consistent in Christian faith and refuse compromise. Look again at what the Apostle writes:
But you must continue to believe this truth and stand firmly in it. Don’t drift away from the assurance you received when you heard the Good News. The Good News has been preached all over the world, and I, Paul, have been appointed as God’s servant to proclaim it. Colossians 1:23-24 NLT
God established the Good News of salvation through His Son Jesus and since its onset, it has been preached around the world. Those who hear it have a simple choice to make.
They can either accept it and gain everlasting life in Heaven.
or
They can reject it and settle for eternal damnation and torment in Hell.
There’s no third option, no middle ground. You are either for Christ as Savior or against Him.
Now, as you would expect, Satan has worked and will continue to work overtime to ensure people don’t choose Christ. He is set on the destruction of every single person Jesus wants to save. Essentially, since he is already condemned to Hell, he wants to take as many people with him as possible and he is very skilled at it.
This is why we are told in the Bible to don the full armor of God every day with our weapon being the “sword of the Spirit which is the Word of God” (Ephesians 6:10-17). When we stay saturated in the scriptures, we can assure we don’t “drift away” from all the assurances and promises we find within. We are strengthened in our knowledge and wisdom, granted the beautiful gift of discernment through the ongoing work of the Holy Spirit which illuminates the truth and exposes deceit. Ultimately, we become consistent in our Christian faith and therefore a great example for other believers to follow and unbelievers to aspire to.
Our God has called us to be holy as He is holy (Leviticus 11:44-45). This means we need to follow Him and be consistently obedient to His word and will every second of every minute of every hour of every day, ever striving to make our lives mimic the perfectly divine life of Jesus. If we do this, if we commit ourselves to truly be holy as our Lord is holy through being like Christ (which is what we are to do as Christians), then we can ensure we’ll be set apart from the sinful world we live in while preserving the sanctity of the Gospel, which like Paul, we are appointed servants to proclaim.
Amen.
In Christ,
Mark
PS: Feel free to leave a comment and please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it. Send any prayer requests to Gods4all@aol.com
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