Reading Plan:
Colossians 2


Our Thoughts:
If I had to pick one verse to summarize what it looks like to be a believer, Colossians 2:6 would definitely be one of my top choices.
“As you, therefore, have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him, rooted and built up in Him and established in the faith, as you have been taught, abounding in it with thanksgiving. Colossians 2:6”

Wow. What a command! After reading that verse, I asked myself, “How many times have you ever felt that you were just like a speck of dust, floating about aimlessly letting the elements of this world take their toll on you?” For me, I could count until the cows come home. Thank God for his infinite patience and grace, am I right? I certainly have had seasons of confusion where a lack of direction almost becomes a norm for me. Those seasons are typically coupled with anxiety, depression, and just a general lack of confidence in who I am. If you answered similarly to the first question, then you know that those times can easily become the hardest that you may ever face.

What I’ve found is that just like that speck of dust, we often find ourselves in these situations because we have failed to attach ourselves to a good foundation. Many times, we are just like the seeds thrown onto the rocks in The Parable of the Sower.

“Some fell on rocky places where it did not have much soil, it sprang up quickly…but when the sun came up, the plants were scorched and withered because they had no root. Matthew 13:5-6”

As followers of Christ, we are called to first walk in Him by imitating His holy nature. Nonbelievers are naturally inclined to wander, but when we receive salvation, we are given a new nature that pushes us to be better. The only way for us to do that is to follow Jesus’ teachings and examples. In doing this, we can be established and rooted in what we believe, and that Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life.

It’s no secret that the world we live in can be tough, to say the least. That’s why Christians need to live lives rooted in the “good soil” that is Jesus. Doing this directly allows us to go through this life with a Job-like faith and confidence that God works everything for our good.

At the end of the chapter, Paul writes: “Therefore, if you died with Christ from the basic principles of this world, why, as though living in the world, do you subject yourselves to regulation… according to the commandments and doctrines of men? (Colossians 2:20, 22b)”

What Paul is saying is that Christ’s sacrifice on the cross gave us a new beginning. In Jesus, we are a new creation that is no longer enslaved to the hardships of life. We don’t have to carry the weight of the burdens of this world on our shoulders anymore because Jesus has done it already. We who are saved by Jesus’ blood can have confidence in that.


More Questions:
• Have you ever thought about how well-rooted your faith is?
• How are you ensuring growth in your faith?


Prayer:
God, thank you for your limitless grace and mercy. Thank you for loving us despite our wandering nature and for giving us a place to secure ourselves from floating away from righteousness. Amen.


Author: Bailey Woods