Ladies' Corner

I love to read through the letters Paul wrote to the newly established churches. He had to address doctrinal errors and worldly influences which left these believers uncertain in their faith.

Have you ever experienced comforting a small child after a bad dream? Maybe your little one was awakened in tears because of something experienced in a dream, and he just can’t get settled. When this happened in our home, I always tried to point out the practical reasons why his fears were unfounded. “It’s okay, sweetheart! There’s not a room in our house full of snakes! See? It was just a bad dream!” Side note: a lot of the bad dreams in our house were about snakes…I don’t know why.

That reminds me of how Paul reassured the churches in his day.  He reminded them of the truth.

Church                                     False Teaching                                       Paul’s Reminder

Galatians                                Legalism (Christ plus)                       Christ freed us
Thessalonians                      They missed the resurrection       Their future hope
Corinthians                            Division and immorality                   Brotherly love and sanctification
Romans                                   Live unto yourself                                 True grace transforms
Colossians                             Christ wasn’t enough                        Christ is supreme (He is enough)

In the book of Colossians, Paul walks the readers through Jesus’ resume. He reassures them they need nothing outside of Christ. In essence, he’s telling them, “There’s nothing to be afraid of-your hope is in the right place.”

Could anyone less give us this assurance? Here is His resume:

          v.13 delivers us from the power of darkness
          v. 14 redeems us from the penalty of sin and forgives our sin
          v. 15 is the most important uncreated being
          v. 16 created all things (Paul doesn’t leave anything out) not just created by him, but for him, too
          v. 17 Paul digs deeper-He’s before all things, and He holds it all together
          v. 18 He’s the head. He conquered death so that He might be the head.
          v. 19 His atonement satisfied the Father. It pleased the Father to place this title on Christ
          v. 20 Because of the cross, we have peace. We can be reconciled to a just and holy God, even though we were    
                      the enemies of the cross.

Christ can do and is all of these things.

Why is this doctrine so important to us today? We have the full account of scripture and we believe the Word. We’re Baptists in the south-of course we believe that Jesus is who the bible says He is! But how many times do we allow our circumstances to be the false teachers that question who Jesus is? Who God is? Hard times come and we tell ourselves the burden is too heavy (His grace is sufficient). Friendships wax cold and we feel alone (I will never leave thee). You’re faced with a hard decision (if any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God). Maybe we’ve been called to mortify a sin in our life (He will provide a way of escape from our temptations). But it is in these moments our faith wavers and falters. Faith is intangible, and we are ever seeking the tangible answers. We want the time machine faith that carries us to the end of our choices and allows us see the end result so we can be more sure of ourselves and the results of our decisions.  We tell ourselves that we will have peace if we can just know that we are making the right choice. Friend, if we can only have peace if we know the outcome, then we are in for a life of fear, uncertainty, and defeat (spoiler alert: time machines don’t exist). Verse 20 tells us where we can find true peace, and it is in being reconciled to a Holy God, through the cross of Christ. Knowing that because of Christ, God no longer sees me as His enemy, brings me great comfort. And if that burden can be taken off of my shoulders through the blood of his cross, then I can face anything between here and heaven that life sends me.

Only a savior who has the preeminence can offer all of these things. The Colossians didn’t need more, and you don’t either. Rest today in the truth that through Christ, you are at peace with a holy God, and allow that truth to translate into peace in our daily lives, in spite of the trials we face.