Reading: Colossians 2:6-15

Verse 13: “When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature, God made you alive in Christ.”

Our passage begins with Paul encouraging us to live in Christ, “rooted and built up in him.” Paul implies an ongoing, continually growing relationship. Jumping to verse 9 we are reminded that we have been given “the fullness of Christ” – the one who was “the fullness of God… in bodily form.” The fullness of God in Christ that we have been given is the Holy Spirit. This receiving of Christ’s Spirit transforms us, empowering us to put off “the sinful nature.” This, of course, is also an ongoing, continual process as we die to our sin over and over. The sinful nature is ever at work in our flesh. But, thanks be to God, so is the Spirit!

In verse 13 we read, “When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature, God made you alive in Christ.” When there was no hope for us, when we were as lost as lost can be, Jesus Christ rescued us as he “took it away” by “nailing it to the cross.” This act of love is what rescues us again and again, casting off our sin and the guilt and shame connected to it, making us alive once again in Christ. It is a glorious love that Christ has for you and me! Freeing us, we claim victory over the world and all earthly powers.

This glorious love that we experience is not a love experienced by all people. There are some who do not know Christ. We are sent to these to offer hope and rescue. There are some who long to know this freedom that we find in Christ yet are trapped or held back by society and the labels and systems that we create. We too are sent to these, armed with the triumph of the cross, empowered to help them break free of these earthly powers, inviting them to experience transformation and redemption in and through Jesus Christ. Living out the fullness of God in Christ in us, today may we seek to guide others to know the power of being alive in Christ.

Prayer: Lord God, it feels so good for the chains to fall to the ground, to experience the freedom of life with you. In all I do and say and think today may I reflect your glorious love to the world. Amen.