I love Colossians 3:4. It says, “When the Messiah, who is your life, is revealed, then you also will be revealed with Him in glory.” I am overwhelmed when I think about Jesus being my very life. I am nothing without Him. He has blessed me with every talent and passion that I have. He created every hair on my head and every cell in my body. He breathed His life into me. What an incredible thought. The breath of Christ is what brings us to life. Knowing what we have taken in (the very breath of God), what are we putting back out into the world? In other words, we have inhaled the breath of Christ; the important question now is: “What are we exhaling?”
Colossians
When Tragedy Strikes
The bombings at the Boston Marathon again have people shaking their fists, pointing fingers, and asking, “Where was God?” The first instinct of many when something tragic occurs is to blame God for not preventing it or even to accuse Him of orchestrating it. Strip away everything else you know about God and you will be left with an incomprehensible love. Love does not maim; it does not kill. Love protects and heals. There is no part of the bombing that was part of God’s plan, despite what some seriously misguided individuals might have you believe. Sickness and hatred were behind the bombings. These traits are the antithesis of who God is.
Unity in Christ
I’m surprised how many people are searching for the “12 steps to Discipleship” or the “5 keys to being a follower of Jesus”. We don’t need any gimmicks to learn what it means to be a follower of Jesus. He has already clearly spelled out the process in His Word. The problem is that following Jesus is hard and requires us to make wholesale changes in our lives. That is not the Jesus most people want; they want the Jesus that spares them from spending eternity in Hell, but not much else. For too long, Christianity has been synonymous with inactivity. We have been taught that once we pray the magic prayer, our eternity is covered regardless of whatever we might do from that point forward.
God’s Will for Your Life
It seems so many Christians are desperately seeking to find God’s will for their lives. From my observations, perhaps no other question causes more stress in the life of a believer than this one. I’ve seen far too many Christians paralyzed over not being able to figure out the exact path God wants them to walk. Instead of doing something that would further the mission of Christ, they become frozen in the fear of doing anything outside of God’s perfect will for their lives. Christians have allowed secular influences to color the way we understand the will of God. We’ve twisted the message of what God’s will is for the Church and narrowed it down into seeking what His will is for our individual lives. That’s not in the Bible; it’s only in our own selfish and short-sighted interpretation.
Pursuing Holiness
As you go throughout your days, are you pursuing a life of holiness? Are you consciously striving to be the person God created you to be, a person who is consumed by the love of Jesus? This isn’t a new concept, but it has been brought to my mind in fresh ways through recent teachings by Bill Hybels and David Platt. Not only has God placed a unique combination of passions and skills in each of us in order that we might do the work He created us to do, but He has also charged us to conduct ourselves in a manner that is pleasing to Him (Philippians 1:27).