Now, we read the final verse from Colossians (NIV): “I, Paul, write this greeting in my own hand. Remember my chains. Grace be with you.”
I agree with Selwyn when he says: “One of the greatest evidences of spiritual maturity is the desire, when under personal pressure or pain, to still reach out and give to others. (Paul) in the midst of overwhelming difficulties – his final thought is for others.”
On looking back over the last two months – which was your favourite verse from Paul’s letter to the Colossians? Was it verse 3:11 ‘Here there is no Greek or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave or free, but Christ is all, and is in all.” The verse mentioned by Selwyn today – and his question: ‘We are all in all to Christ, but is Christ all in all to us?’ Is a question that we should perhaps ask ourselves before we go to sleep each night after we have reviewed our daily activities and think about the times we may have gone our own way and not God’s way!
For me, these following verses are great (NIV) 1:15-20 (NIV): “ He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy. For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.”
And, finally these two great verses 2:13-14 (NIV): “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, having 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.”
It’s these verses and others like them which gives us an assurance of eternal life – having all our sins forgiven – not just some sins, but all – and; our good works are not taken into account when Jesus made peace between us and God by His blood – shed on the cross.
What stood out for you – as we worked through Colossians over the past two months?
Closing words
Now, we read the final verse from Colossians (NIV): “I, Paul, write this greeting in my own hand. Remember my chains. Grace be with you.”
I agree with Selwyn when he says: “One of the greatest evidences of spiritual maturity is the desire, when under personal pressure or pain, to still reach out and give to others. (Paul) in the midst of overwhelming difficulties – his final thought is for others.”
On looking back over the last two months – which was your favourite verse from Paul’s letter to the Colossians? Was it verse 3:11 ‘Here there is no Greek or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave or free, but Christ is all, and is in all.” The verse mentioned by Selwyn today – and his question: ‘We are all in all to Christ, but is Christ all in all to us?’ Is a question that we should perhaps ask ourselves before we go to sleep each night after we have reviewed our daily activities and think about the times we may have gone our own way and not God’s way!
For me, these following verses are great (NIV) 1:15-20 (NIV): “ He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy. For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.”
And, finally these two great verses 2:13-14 (NIV): “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, having 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.”
It’s these verses and others like them which gives us an assurance of eternal life – having all our sins forgiven – not just some sins, but all – and; our good works are not taken into account when Jesus made peace between us and God by His blood – shed on the cross.
What stood out for you – as we worked through Colossians over the past two months?