Christ, Our Creator, Savior, Peacemaker

Remembering the Covenant

Colossians 1:9-20 The Message 

9-12 Be assured that from the first day we heard of you, we haven’t stopped praying for you, asking God to give you wise minds and spirits attuned to his will, and so acquire a thorough understanding of the ways in which God works. We pray that you’ll live well for the Master, making him proud of you as you work hard in his orchard. As you learn more and more how God works, you will learn how to do your work. We pray that you’ll have the strength to stick it out over the long haul—not the grim strength of gritting your teeth but the glory-strength God gives. It is strength that endures the unendurable and spills over into joy, thanking the Father who makes us strong enough to take part in everything bright and beautiful that he has for us.
13-14 God rescued us from dead-end alleys and dark dungeons. He’s set us up in the kingdom of the Son he loves so much, the Son who got us out of the pit we were in, got rid of the sins we were doomed to keep repeating.

Christ Holds It All Together

15-18 We look at this Son and see the God who cannot be seen. We look at this Son and see God’s original purpose in everything created. For everything, absolutely everything, above and below, visible and invisible, rank after rank after rank of angels—everything got started in him and finds its purpose in him. He was there before any of it came into existence and holds it all together right up to this moment. And when it comes to the church, he organizes and holds it together, like a head does a body.
18-20 He was supreme in the beginning and—leading the resurrection parade—he is supreme in the end. From beginning to end he’s there, towering far above everything, everyone. So spacious is he, so roomy, that everything of God finds its proper place in him without crowding. Not only animals and atoms—get properly fixed and fit together in vibrant harmonies, all because of his death, his blood that poured down from the cross.that, but all the broken and dislocated pieces of the universe—people and things, people and things, animals and atoms—get properly fixed and fit together in vibrant harmonies, all because of his death, his blood that poured down from the cross.

For Reflection

Our salvation is not an end to be achieved.  Preferably, it is a starting point for a journey into spiritual maturity.  As we learn more and more about how God works, we understand more fully how we should work.  
We look to Christ to see God.  We see in Jesus the persons we were intended to be. Do we dare strive to emulate Christ?  Can we achieve the spiritual maturity Jesus has shown us? We can only if we dedicate ourselves to the task, pray, study the scriptures, meet in the fellowship of other believers, and face the inevitable growth of our faith, fearlessly.  The beliefs we had as children were not the beliefs we had in early adulthood and will not be the beliefs we will have.  As we grow into Grace, we become closer to the archetypal Grace in Christ.   

Pray

Pray for the wisdom and the courage to grow into the human God has intended. Pray for the courage to embrace your changes in belief and work as you mature as an authentic Christian.
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