Thoughts on Colossians 1

The theme of Colossians is “You are Complete In Him.”…there is always more to learn, and none of us can ever say, “we’ve arrived.” The trick is staying close to the Lord and being able to discern His will for us. Staying close is the hard part. I have dealt with inmates for more years than I want to remember, and it is very rare that one of them is able to so balance his life that staying close to the Lord is his main priority. Actually, it’s not that common in the church in general, but with deeply troubled people, it is even more difficult to get the concept across. I think there are many reasons for all of us to not keep our priorities straight. The more troubled people are, the closer they need to be to God, but it rarely happens that way.  He is the only One that can keep us thinking straight and keep us in the Word. It is much easier to make excuses for NOT staying close,…job, meetings, family members that demand attention, many things vie for our attention, even “church.” Some churches have so many events and meetings for all of us, there is little time left over to sit quietly, read, study, and pray.

We often wonder what God’s will is for us…I like this, “for those whom God foreknew, He predestined to be conformed to the likeness of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren, “ Romans 8:29. If we accept the fact that God desires us to be just like Jesus, then of course we must learn all about Him. Where do we learn these things? From the Word itself. by studying it, applying it, profiting from it…if we do these things, we cannot help but become like Him.

Selfishness comes into play here also, we usually want what we want, and we want it now. It’s referred to as immediate gratification and runs rampant in our society today. Why is credit card debt so prevalent? Because I must have my desire right now, not next week, or on pay day or when I’ve saved enough…NOW! I wonder if we want our Christian life like that…NOW! Instant maturity…I don’t think so…maturity takes along time and lots of applying hard things to our lives. But God is patient and will wait, teaching us along the way as we allow Him to.

Have you ever thought about the amount of time God takes in teaching and training us for His service. He really desires ALL of us to serve, most of us don’t at least not on a consistent basis. He takes His time, Joseph 13 years, Moses, 80 years, the disciples 3 years being taught by the Master Himself. Even Paul needed brushing up in the Arabian desert. Romans 12:1 & 2 tells us “it is our reasonable service”…letting Him conform us to Christ’s image and likeness and presenting ourselves to Him to serve. Just think what our world would be like if professing Christians became possessing Christians, serving with a full heart. What a world we would  be living in.