Thursday, May 23 | Colossians 2:1-15 | Amy Jackson
Imagine eating your favorite meal at your favorite restaurant. For me, it’s probably a tie between the chicken salad plate with a side of fruit at Smith’s Drugstore in downtown Forest City, North Carolina or anything from Pizza House in Chesnee, South Carolina with their classic white sauce as my condiment of choice. After eating either of these meals, I am so incredibly full - I don’t need anything else to satisfy my appetite.
Here in Colossians 2, Paul combats false teachings leading the Colossians astray by reminding them that, in Christ, they are complete. Take a look at Colossians 2:9, where Paul explains that, just as the fullness of God dwells in Christ, believers “have been filled with Him, who is the head of all rule and authority.” As believers in Christ, we are filled with the Holy Spirit and our salvation is complete - we have everything we need in Christ.
The problem with these false teachings is that they claimed the Colossians needed salvation plus “something else” to be more like Christ and to experience the fullness of God. Paul uses three illustrations to remind the church that, if we are in Christ, we are complete. Take a look at Colossians 2:11-15. First, he says that, if we are in Christ, we are spiritually circumcised - forever marked as God’s children. Second, we have been buried with Christ in our baptism - we have died to sin and to our old ways, and have been raised to walk in newness of life through the power of the cross! Third, God has cancelled our records of debt - they have been nailed to the cross and are forever erased!
Take a moment today to meditate on the truths and on the good news of the cross - that through God’s work in Christ, we have all we need for salvation and are “full” - the payment for our sin has been fully satisfied and there is nothing else that we can do to add to His work!
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