Digging into Colossians: Chapter One

Tensions are high these days. Where do we look for inspiration, encouragement, and instruction to push through?

God’s Word needs to be at the top of the list! It’s time to dig in. To seek after the only treasure that satisfies, and be transformed by God’s power and love.

If you haven’t already, take a few minutes to read through Chapter One of Colossians, which you can find here. Then come back and carry along with me as we dig through the treasure together.

Here we go! Some fresh heart-finds from the first chapter:

The beginning of Paul’s letter tells us who it’s for, and sets the tone for the goods to come. He is writing to fellow brothers and sisters in the faith, and his prayer is for them to be blessed with grace and peace. (Read more about Grace and Peace here.)

Paul knows the power of prayer. He knows the One who hears our prayers has the power to transform our lives, our circumstances, and our very beings. Do we know it? And by knowing, do we live like we know it?

He knows that Christ in us is our hope of glory – for Christ is the visible image of the invisible God and He is also the head of the church (as we are the body of the church). And he knows that through Christ making peace with God for us and for all of creation, we are reconciled to God.

We are made free, blameless, and holy. We have hope for a future in heaven, surrounded by God’s presence and free of sin and all it’s pain – though we travail much in this world until then. Do we know and live from this same hope?

Paul prays for us, fellow believers, to have complete knowledge of God’s will for our lives, and to have spiritual knowledge and understanding. Why is this so important? Because it allows us to produce good fruit. Fruit that nourishes. Fruit that lasts.

Let’s go deeper still…

Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. 
Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect. 
- Romans 12:2 NLT

So here’s what I want you to do, God helping you: 
Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. 
Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. 
Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You’ll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you. 
- Romans 12:2 The Message

It’s in the little things, the everyday choices as we learn to cling to Jesus, that we learn and know, and grow and become, all that God intended.

Key Points:

• Transformed hearts and minds are the keys to knowing the will of God for our life.

• Spiritual knowledge and understanding come as we walk out our transformation.

Paul also prays that we would be strengthened by God’s glorious power, through Christ, so that we can have endurance, patience, and joy. He reminds us that living out our faith requires reliance on Christ’s power in us. There will be chains. There will be suffering.

But the message of Jesus is worth it. Paul thinks so, anyway. Do we?

"God's plan is to make known his secret to his people, this rich and glorious secret which he has for all peoples. And the secret is that Christ is in you, which means that you will share in the glory of God. 
So we preach Christ to everyone. With all possible wisdom we warn and teach them in order to bring each one into God's presence as a mature individual in union with Christ. 
To get this done I toil and struggle, using the mighty strength which Christ supplies and which is at work in me." 
- Colossians 1:27-29 GNT

Does the secret—that Jesus Christ is in you, through the power of the Holy Spirit—feel rich and glorious? Because it is! It should!

Paul rejoices in his sufferings by the same power that we have access to.

The Call:

• Settle your emotions at the Cross.

• Allow God’s Word and Christ’s sacrifice to transform your heart and mind.

Remember, this power—this peace and hope and joy—comes by grace, which is a freely offered gift, waiting to be received.

Grace and Peace be yours, in increasing measure!

Thanks for digging into the treasures of Colossians Chapter One with me. I look forward to going deeper into the rest of this book with you.