...Lord...I Need you...

21 And you who were once estranged and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, 22 Jesus Christ has now reconciled in His fleshly body through death, so as to present you holy and blameless and irreproachable before Him — 23 provided that you continue securely established and steadfast in the faith, without shifting from the hope promised by the gospel that you heard, which has been proclaimed to every creature under heaven. I, Paul, became a servant of this gospel” Colossians 1:21-23.

Dear friends, here Paul is sharing some profound, Holy Spirit-inspired reflections about the meaning of the death of Christ on the cross. There is theological Anthropology here, as well as Christology, both the study of who the human person is and who Christ is.

We, as human persons, are people who “were once estranged” — or separated from Christ because our minds, what we were thinking, were “hostile” thoughts, and our actions, what we are doing, are “evil deeds” verse 21. That is a depressing and sad commentary, or reflection, on the human person, on you and me. But that is who we once were, but are no longer. Paul assures us that “Jesus Christ has now reconciled in His fleshly body through death, so as to present you holy and blameless and irreproachable before Him” verse 22. Here, Paul speaks of the meaning and impact of the crucifixion of Christ. The death of Jesus reconciled us to Christ, brought us back to a loving relationship with Christ once again. And now we are a new creation — in Christ —  and through the death of Christ on the cross we have been recreated as “holy and blameless and irreproachable.”

But there is more: we must continue to live our lives as “securely established” people, securely established in the risen Christ. This means we must live as people who are “steadfast in our faith” in Jesus Christ” verse 23. Look at what Paul says here: we are holy people, and blameless people, and we are now able once again to approach God, “provided that we continue” to remain “securely established” in Christ and “steadfast in our faith.”  All that Christ has won for us on the cross is ours for eternity “provided that we continue” to establish ourselves in life as faithful people.

Paul continues to tell us that this means that we must now live our lives “without shifting from the hope promised by the gospel” verse 23. We cannot live as people who are “hot” one day and “cold” the next day. We must continue to have hope in the death and resurrection — in the person of Jesus Christ, in what He did for us on the Cross and in the empty tomb.

For me personally, this tells me that, when I sin, I must come running back to the Lord.  For me personally, this tells me that, when I give up hope and think that I cannot come back to God again, I must come running back to the Lord. And believe me when I remind you of this truth: every time you and I return to the Lord, every time we come running back to Him, we have no one to thank except Jesus Christ!

So today, I hear the Lord calling each of us: “Return To Me!”

Lord Jesus Christ, Son of the Living God, have mercy on me a sinner.

Today’s Prayer

Oh Lord, it’s me again, and today I hear You loud and clear.

I need You, Oh, I need You.

I want to come back to You and to hope in You again.

I want to return to You and no longer shift in my faithfulness to You.

I want to come back to You and be steadfast in my faith in You.

But I need You to help me do this.

I need your grace,

for I know that with You all things are possible,

and without You I can do nothing.

And so this is my prayer to You this day.

In Your Name I pray, through Christ, Our Lord, amen.