SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 4/8/2017 9:04 PM
My Worship Time Focus: PT-2 “The
Reminder”
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Colossians
3:1a
Message of the verse: “If then you have been raised up with Christ,”
Just a reminder that the word “if” should be translated
“since” for it is a sure thing for believers that they indeed have been raised
up with Christ which is what Paul is reminding the Colossians believers.
Now the new life that we have from the Lord which was
given to all believers at the time they became a born-again believer in Christ
is not only real, but it is also powerful, but on the other hand so is
remaining sin and all true born again believers understand this. Before a person is born into the family of
God through grace through faith in the finished work of Jesus Christ sin is
their master. I will give you a picture
of this from the Old Testament. We go
back to the book of Exodus where we find that the nation of Israel which had
been in Egypt for four hundred years were slaves to the nation of Egypt. Moses through the power of God did ten
miracles against the god’s of Egypt including the last one which was the death
of every first born of the nation of Egypt.
Once this was done Israel was set free from their slavery, so Egypt was
no longer their master. When they left
Egypt they actually became slaves to God, which was far better. Once a person is born-again into the family
of God they are no longer slaves to sin, but as mentioned they still sin, but
sin is not their master as we pointed out.
Now as long as we are in the body, which is called the “flesh”, we will
still sin and this happens when we are not presenting ourselves to God as
servants of righteousness. If you want
to read Romans chapters 6-8 which tells about this battle and how it can be
won?
MacArthur writes “Spirituality, as Paul says in
Philippians 2:12 [“So then, my beloved, just as you have always obeyed, not as
in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your salvation
with fear and trembling”] is working that inner life out, the process of living
the reality of our union with Christ. In
Him we have all the resources necessary for living the Christian life (cf. 2
Pet. 1:3). [“Seeing that His divine power has granted to us everything
pertaining to life and godliness, through the true knowledge of Him who called
us by His own glory and excellence.”] Paul emphasizes the centrality of Christ
throughout Colossians 3:1-4. Bu using
such phrases as ‘with Christ’ (3:1); ‘where Christ (3:1); ‘with Christ’ (3:3);
‘when Christ’ (3:4); and ‘with Him’ (3:4), he stresses again Christ’s total
sufficiency (cf. 2:10) [“and in Him you have been made complete, and He is the
head over all rule and authority;”].
Unfortunately, many Christians fail to understand and pursue the
fullness of Christ. Consequently,
because of not knowing what Scripture says, or not applying it properly, they
are intimidated into thinking they need something more than Him alone to live
the Christian life. They fall prey to
false philosophy, legalism, mysticism, or asceticism.” What is being spoken of here was not just a
problem with the Colossians in that period of time, but it is seen throughout
church history, including in the church today.
This is why Paul reminds the Colossian believers, and
believers of all ages that they have been raised up with Christ, and this is
the path to holiness. Paul is reminding
them and us that we are not living the old life we had before coming to know
the Lord bringing about salvation, bus as stated we have been raised up with
Christ. That new life given is eternal
life and that does not just mean we live forever, but eternal life is a quality
of life that begins with salvation. It
is good to take inventory and remember that we have been raised up with Christ.
4/8/2017 9:29 PM
No comments:
Post a Comment