Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your
minds because of your evil behavior. But now he has reconciled you by Christ's
physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish
and free from accusation— if you continue in your faith, established and firm,
not moved from the hope held out in the gospel. This is the gospel that you
heard and that has been proclaimed to every creature under heaven, and of which
I, Paul, have become a servant. Colossians
1:21-23
Couples
who celebrate golden anniversaries are the ones that stayed married. Graduates
who receive their diplomas are the ones who completed the coursework. Employees
who receive a gold watch and possibly preferred parking are the ones who stayed
with the company through thick and thin. Well, at least that’s the way that it
used to be.
Now,
employees who run the distance are not only dedicated, but they also have
employers who won’t offshore their jobs. Educational standards aren’t what they
used to be. As long as you pay your tuition, more than likely you will end up
with a piece of paper. Then, there’s marriage. Now a days it seems that as soon
as spouses decide that they’re unhappy, well that’s the end of that. When did
we begin to settle for such mediocrity? It’s clear that what has become
acceptable in the world is still not acceptable among God’s people.
We
started out as God’s enemies who were alienated from Him because of our evil
behavior. Then, God provided His Son to pay the price, so that we can be
reconciled. God’s heart is always toward reconciliation.
Not
only did God provide the way for a relationship with Him, He also did things
for us that we couldn’t possibly do for ourselves. He made us holy in
his sight, without blemish, and free from accusation. When we look at ourselves,
we quickly discover that we are none of those things. If we’re holy and without
blemish, then why do our minds wander to the places that they go at times? Why
do we plot revenge? Why do we harbor resentment?
Paul goes on to say that we are free from accusation. But,
we have an accuser who is regularly reminding us of how bad we are (Revelation 12:10).
Just when we think that God could use us, the enemy is right there to remind us
about how terrible we are.
But, these aren’t things that we have to work up. A holy,
blemish-free, accusation-free life comes from God. He gives it to us. We don’t
have to work for it. But, are required to do one thing: not quit. Whether you
believe that continuing in the faith is optional or mandatory, what we see here
is that continuing is the requisite of everything else.
We have a poster in our home that was displayed in many
households during World War II. It is a simple light blue poster with the
words: “Keep Calm and Carry On.” (The Pixar counterpart to this is Dorie’s line
from Finding Nemo, “Just keep swimming.”) When things are not going well? Keep
calm and carry on. When things are falling apart? Just keep swimming.
Life
presents us with many tests. At times it feels that some of these tests just
might destroy us. God’s purpose is not to destroy us, but his purpose is to
break us. He wants to remove everything that is interfering with our
relationship with Him. All of these Christian things that we add on to our
faith get in the way. God is a jealous God. He wants us to only long for Him.
Then, He will provide everything that we need to carry on in the faith.
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