May 24 - Alive in Christ

Read Col 2:6- 15

Context: The church in Colossia was being diverted by those who were strongly steeped in Jewish tradition and the Gnostics, who believed they had the secret knowledge that would get them into Heaven. In this letter, Paul is setting them straight.

Text:
6So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live in him, 7rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness.

8See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the basic principles of this world rather than on Christ.

9For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form, 10and you have been given fullness in Christ, who is the head over every power and authority. 11In him you were also circumcised, in the putting off of the sinful nature,[a] not with a circumcision done by the hands of men but with the circumcision done by Christ, 12having been buried with him in baptism and raised with him through your faith in the power of God, who raised him from the dead.

13When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature,[b] God made you[c] alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, 14having canceled the written code, with its regulations, that was against us and that stood opposed to us; he took it away, nailing it to the cross. 15And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.[d] (NIV)

Footnotes:

Colossians 2:11 Or the flesh
Colossians 2:13 Or your flesh
Colossians 2:13 Some manuscripts us
Colossians 2:15 Or them in him
taken from www.biblegateway.com


Isn't it great that Christ is enough? We don't have to follow a strict code of law and we don't have to hunt for some secret code...Christ has taken care of all of that by coming to earth and giving us the answers.I don't want to sin, and there are lots of guidelines that help us understand what sin is, but when I fail Christ is there to pick me up, dust me off, and send me on the right path again.