Colossians 1:15-23
Dear RTB’ers,
The pronoun in today’s first seven verses refers to Jesus, from yesterday’s next-to-last verse: He [God the Father] has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son… (v. 13). God the Father is referring to Jesus. These seven verses give us one of the most profound descriptions of who Jesus is and what He has done from the beginning of time (and into future eternity). It seems that Paul is trying to shut down new converts who have been diminishing Jesus, maybe in favor of the Father or of the Holy Spirit and His spiritual gifts. Paul sets them straight as to Who Jesus is!
The following words are special for me: For in Him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell… (v. 19). I was once chatting with a young man who was seriously struggling with his faith; the concept of God was especially confusing to him. I gave him some outlandish advice, “Forget God, study Jesus.” He took my advice, read through the gospels and became (and remains) a strong believer. That’s probably not wisdom that I would suggest to all of you, but it is good advice to study Jesus, to get to know Him. I have said many times to our Avanza kids, “The more you get to know Jesus, you can’t help but love Him, and the more you love Him, the more you will want to serve Him.”
Re-read those seven verses. Get to know Him better…
Blessings.
Fred