When studying for my last sermon, I came across Colossians 1 which Pastor Frank taught about extensively before the Christmas season. "Christ in you, the hope of glory!" (v. 27) There are a few verses here that draw a sharp distinction between how we act without Christ vs how we act with Christ.
... We are asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding, so that you may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him: bearing fruit in every good work and growing in the knowledge of God, being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might, so that you may have great endurance and patience, joyfully giving thanks to the Father, who has enabled you to share in the saints' inheritance in the light. (Col 1:9-12)
If I were to highlight a few key phrases in that excerpt, it would be...
'Bearing fruit'
'Growing in knowledge'
'Strengthened with all power'
Possessing 'great endurance and patience'
Compare that to how Paul later describes us in verse 21.
Once you were alienated and hostile in your minds as expressed in your evil actions. (Col 1:21)
I think the key word here is "alienated". Paul is speaking here about people who are alienated from God which was proven by their actions. Unlike the people he speaks about in verses 9-12, these individuals commit 'evil actions' rather than 'bearing fruit'. They exhibit 'hostility' rather than 'great endurance and patience'. Why is that? Why does being alienated from Christ cause people to bend towards hostility and evil actions?
I personally believe this is because separation from God makes people unsettled. Ecclesiastes 3:11 says that God has placed eternity in the hearts of man but that none of us can individually see God's completed master plan. If you imagine living your life day-in and day-out for nothing more than what the world gives you, then you'd be right to get a little discouraged... you're never going to totally win. There's always going to be a smudge on the masterpiece that mankind attempts to paint with their own hands. You'll never totally eliminate hate, ignorance, intolerance, or any of the other "sins" mankind has decided they want to eliminate through their own means. Because many people want to believe they are trying to achieve good things in this world, that drives them insane. We'll never get to the utopia we're trying to create.
That's where God comes in. Christ's sacrifice tells us that the smudge on the masterpiece is a part of the bigger plan and that the pain, the suffering, the imperfections, and the uncertainties of this world are all going to be worked out for good. We may not know the bigger plan, but we know the plan is there and more importantly, that at the end of the plan, God wins.
This is why the alienated are unsettled and why we are able to bear good fruit despite the troubles we see in this world. With the knowledge of God's master plan, we are strengthened in our resolve which allows us to bear good fruit with endurance and patience, even when the going gets tough.
The self-challenge that we should issue, then, is to evaluate if we are living like those empowered and strengthened by our affiliation with Christ, or do we find ourselves unsettled? If you feel unsettled, crack open a Bible; speak to a spiritual mentor; spend a little time in meditation and prayer. There is no better way to break down your alienation then to just spend time getting to know your savior a little more each day.
DEVOTIONAL PRAYER
A Prayer for Affiliation over Alienation
Lord, you have placed eternity in our hearts. Help us to find calm and refuge in you. Help us to be inclined to look towards the cross when we are unsettled or afraid. Give us comfort when we feel too disturbed to continue. You continue to create masterpieces the lives of so many around us and I pray that you would continue you work in me. We love you, God, with all we have. Amen.
Comments