Thought for Friday, 26 April 2024

Colossians 2:6-10

And now, just as you accepted Christ Jesus as your Lord, you must continue to live in obedience to him.

  Let your roots grow down into him and draw up nourishment from him, so you will grow in faith, strong and vigorous in the truth you were taught.  Let your lives overflow with thanksgiving for all he has done.  Don’t let anyone lead you astray with empty philosophy and high-sounding nonsense that come from human thinking and from the evil powers of this world, and not from Christ.  For in Christ, the fulness of God lives in a human body, and you are complete through your union with Christ.  He is the Lord over every ruler and authority in the universe.

Another big reading for today and it is pretty much, a sermon or a message in itself. Commitment to Jesus is not a dramatic one-off experience, it is something we need to live through all the days of our lives.  It is not a phase to go through.  It is not a passing fancy.  Once committed, we need to be in it for life.

I find it difficult to see folks making a public commitment in some way and then, in a few months or few years later, they disappear and are never seen again at the place they made that commitment.  I love the analogy that Paul makes particularly at this time of year when we see lots of new growth around us when he says ‘let your roots grow down into him and draw nourishment from him, so you will grow in faith, strong and vigorous in the truth you were taught’.  We can only get this nourishment if our relationship with Jesus sticks through good times and difficult times and, as Paul says, our faith will grow stronger.

We need to be thankful that we are on the Lord’s side and beware of the fads of this life that are ever evolving that may put up barriers to our church commitments and faith.  We are already complete through our relationship with him and nothing earthly can enhance that relationship, indeed, it is more likely to damage it and needs to be avoided.

Almost every day in the news, there are reports of the actions of politicians that we either agree or disagree with.  These folks in positions of authority say and do things that we find great difficulty in understanding.  It makes you wonder what drives them in the direction they are taking.  We hear of dishonesty of people holding senior positions in governments.  All these things can be honestly reported or deliberately ignored or manipulated by news media and we are fed the information powerful people decide we should be fed with.

It is comforting to know that we are complete in our union with Jesus and that ‘he is Lord over every ruler and authority in the universe’.

Prayer - Father God, help us to walk in your ways, stay on the right path, stay away from temptation, and walk in the light of your path. Help us to love others, be an encouragement, and be an example to others. We pray that you will be with us and guide us.  Heavenly Father, help us to walk in ways worthy of our calling. May we learn to listen to the influence of your Holy Spirit every day of our lives.  Amen