I'm going to start opening up the post the night before in case I sleep in and you guys want to have early morning devotional. Remember to give God the first fruits of your lives. I know the following verse is talking specifically about tithes, but I think that each day, each breath that we take... is something that is given to us and we need to offer our Lord the first fruits of the day!
29 "You shall not delay to offer from the fullness of your harvest and from the outflow of your presses. The firstborn of your sons you shall give to me."
God wants our first-fruits. Now I'm not trying to make this challenge harder...and I know many times we have so much to do...but think about what God deserves...does he really deserve for us to come to him when we are half asleep..giving him, the last fruits of the energy he has given us to get through another day? Check yourselves brothers and seek Him! I love you guys! Thanks for being part of this challenge...I'm really proud of you guys!
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Now for today's Blog!!
16 So don’t let anyone condemn you for what you eat or drink, or for not celebrating certain holy days or new moon ceremonies or Sabbaths.
This one was just awesome...I love how he hits legalism in the face in this chapter and really shows us what really matters in our lives! Legalism is a hard life to live...it describes that it brings self-denial and pain to the body...and I am so glad that the Lord has freed us from that. The main thing that stood out though, is the fact that it mentions the Sabbath...and I've been praying to God lately to show me why we don't keep the Sabbath holy anymore...I've been reading in Isaiah about the sabbath and how it should be kept holy...why is it the only commandment we don't follow anymore? This is a question I have been trying to find the answer for.
18 Let no one disqualify you, insisting on asceticism and worship of angels, going on in detail about visions,4 puffed up without reason by his sensuous mind, 19 and not holding fast to the Head, from whom the whole body, nourished and knit together through its joints and ligaments, grows with a growth that is from God.
ReplyDeleteI was going to simply copy verse 19, but it doesn't make sense out of context "not holding fast to the Head." For the plea in the midst of this passage is for Paul's readers [TO] HOLD FAST TO JESUS. Now let us fix our eyes on Jesus the AUTHOR and PERFECTOR of our faith. Spiritual growth for the individual as well as growth for the church relies on this. Humility relies on this. Unity in the body relies on this. Love relies on this; everything relies on this.
My prayer, "Father would you keep my eyes fixed on you through your son through your word. Let the meditations of my heart be pleasing in your sight. I have tasted and seen that your word actually brings nourishment, and I bless you for this. Whom have I in heaven but you, and there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you. My heart and my flesh may fail, but you oh Lord are the strength of my heart and my portion forever."
The essence of the Gospel is this:
ReplyDelete13-14 And you; who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross.
I pray that this truth would be written on my heart and that each and every day I would come to a greater understanding of the magnitude of the grace of God displayed on the cross by Jesus Christ. We, who were dead, have been made alive. How glorious and amazing is that?
6 So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live your lives in him, 7 rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness.
ReplyDeletehere Paul is describing to those in the church how you should live once you have accepted Jesus. Continue after you have accepted Him to live a live in Him, do exactly what He has taught us. And overflowing in thankfulness for the things He has given to us.
14. He canceled the record of the charges against us and took it away by nailing it to the cross. (NLT).
ReplyDeleteThis proclamation is so freeing and revealing of the love of the father and the son. That all of our sins of the past, present, and future are removed by the sacrifice of one spotless lamb. I have heard this said hundreds of times but it never gets old and it never loses its poignancy. At the same time we must live new lives to reflect our sins being removed. We cannot retain our old identity rooted in sin. We must live our lives through the spirit and for the glory of the lord. To have this outcome we must have a personal relationship with the lord through his word and prayer. Woo God your amazing.
All is Good in GA
"9 For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form"
ReplyDeleteIt is incredible to think about the fact that all of the glory and holiness of God was encompassed in Christ. They share the same thoughts, same knowledge, and same divinity. There is so much that can be learned about the Father and the Holy Spirit by observing the actions and words of Christ because the trinity is one in the same.
13 And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, 14 by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross.
ReplyDeleteThese verses have always had a huge impact on me. They were already underlined in my bible from a long time ago. To me, this pretty much sums up the gospel, and there is never a time when this story will get old. The fact that we were DEAD in our sins and Jesus took those sins and nailed them to the cross so that we can be ALIVE in Him. It doesn't get any better than that. I think it is so important to be living like I am alive in Him, which means giving everything over to Him. We need to stop living like we're still dead in our sins and WAKE UP!
6 So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live your lives in him, 7 rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness.
ReplyDeleteThe phrase "continue to live your lives in him," stood out to me as a reminder that our decision to live for Christ is not a singular action, but that each day we should be striving to live for Him.
14 "He canceled the record of the charges against us and took it away by nailing it to the cross."
ReplyDeleteThis verse is so fundamental to our belief! Without the reason for it, we wouldn't have the benefit of having a relationship with God. Can you imagine being cut off from Him wholly and completely because of our sin with no hope for redemption? That's a hard concept to grasp, which makes the sacrifice made for us all the more valuable.
6-7 So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live your lives in him, rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness.
ReplyDeleteFirst, our lives should have Christ at the center. Without that, our lives are meaningless and have no purpose. SO Paul tells us to live in him which gives us strength. Second, we should also be thankful for Jesus and our ability to live in him. How awesome and fortunate are we that we know the Good News of Jesus, that we are not in a third world country and unaware of what He has done. We should be thankful just to be able to live a Christ centered life.
And now, just as you accepted Christ Jesus as your Lord, you must continue to follow him.
ReplyDeleteWe can't just accept Christ and not follow Him. These chapters seem to be following a theme. Weird how that happens
Colossians 2:8
ReplyDeleteSee to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits [1] of the world, and not according to Christ.
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It is very easy to be deceived by the others. We are frequently victims of wrong philosophy.
You often see it whenever you study philosophy: they really try to draw you in. When studying philosophy, I throw up my defenses and say, "Lord, I know that you are true, and that there can only be one true philosophy. Even if it sounds good, it may not resonate with reality"
The biggest difficulty with this strategy, however, is with dealing with things that aren't overtly portraying themselves as philosophy.
We often can get wrapped up in consumerism, or by the american dream. Our views of wealth and success are tainted by poor philosophy. Often it has the appearance of wisdom, but it is just self-made philosophy.
8 See 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.
ReplyDeleteModern society has drifted so far from God that we who are alive in Christ are seen as backwards, bigoted, hateful. The public has this vaguely defined goal of "being a good person" that does not involve Christ at all, and is therefore unattainable. We should not be discouraged by their arguments against us, nor should we feel like villains for honoring the One who paid our collective debt. As Paul wrote in Galatians, "If I were still trying to please men, I would not be a servant of Christ."
I'm going to take a different approach on this comment. There is a section in my Bible during this chapter that takes apart a lot of the differences between Religion by Self-Effort and Salvation by Faith:
ReplyDelete- In Self-Effort Religion, the goal becomes to please God by our own good deeds. However, in salvation by Faith, the goal is to trust in Christ and then live to please God. (My notes: How often do we try to justify our actions by saying we do enough good deeds, or simply try to be "good" to please God? We just need to trust in Christ and live to please God and we will be transformed into this new mind, not consciously trying to please God through good deeds alone).
- In self-effort religion, the results are chronic guilt, apathy, depression, failure, and constant desire for approval. However, in Salvation by Faith, we feel the results of joy, thankfulness, love, guidance, service, and forgiveness. (Once again, my notes: How often do we feel that joy? Or are we left feeling depressed, as if we didn't do "enough" Bible reading or study time, or just one minute longer in our prayer will win the approval of all the other Christians around us? It shouldn't be like that. Praying by itself should bring us joy, no matter the length. We should never feel down about our faith, knowing that Christ is there to forgive us and we are washed free in his blood. Being a Christian results in joy and love, and feeling those is when you know you are truly in Christ).
13: "When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins."