Tag Archives: Colossians 1:18-2:7

October 5, 2015 Bible Study

For today, One Year Bible Online links here.

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Proverbs 24:23-25

    Those who show favoritism when they pass judgment are wrong. If a teacher punishes one child for actions that he lets another child get away with is making a mistake. A judge who declares that the guilty are innocent and sets them free brings harm to society.

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Psalm 77

    When your problems seem overwhelming and God does not seem to answer your prayers, look back over your life and remember what He has done in the past. And not just what He has done in your life, but what He has done throughout history. When you look at the wonderful and mighty deeds which God has already done, you will realize that solving your problems is but a small thing for Him. Further, you will see that He does not act until the time is right. Do not focus on your own troubles, rather, focus on God’s mighty acts in the past. You will soon realize that God’s love is never ending, His promises never fail.

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Colossians 1:18-2:7

    God chose to reconcile all people and all things to Himself through Christ’s death. This includes you, no matter how far away from God you were (or are). He brings us into His presence making us holy and blameless as we stand before Him. It is God’s action which makes us without fault as we stand before Him. Whenever I read this I wonder if Paul is saying that God makes us holy and blameless despite our actions, or if he is saying that God transforms our actions so that our actions are holy and blameless. The more times I think about this the more I come to believe that Paul’s message is a little bit of both: God makes us holy and blameless despite our actions AND by doing so He transforms our actions so that our actions become holy and blameless. However, as Paul said in his letter to the Philippians, I am not saying that God has completed this process, or even that He will complete this process in any one of us while we yet live. This transformation is a lifelong process. I have observed that those who seem to be the closest to being completely transformed seem to be the ones who are most aware of how far they fall short of God’s holiness. Let us work to allow the Holy Spirit to transform us ever more closely into the likeness of Christ.

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Jeremiah 4:19-6:15

    I am struck by several different things in this passage. Jeremiah felt deep pain for the suffering he foresaw coming upon the people of Judah. He did not confront them about their sins because he hated them. No, he confronted them because he hoped that they might turn from their sins and avoid the suffering.
    Jeremiah tells us that God searched for an honest person among the people of Judah, but did not find one (I would like to note that I believe that Jeremiah was intentionally using hyperbole here and was not actually telling us that no one in Jerusalem was honest…after all Jeremiah was in Jerusalem at the time). Jeremiah first looked among the common people and did not find any who were honest. His first reaction was to say, “Well, they are ignorant and untrained. They do not know any better.” So, next he looked among the elites, among the leaders of the people. Even there he found none who were honest. The elites and the leaders refused to be bound by God’s commands. I believe the message here for us is that someone must choose honesty. If the common people are greedy, selfish, and sinful, we should expect their leaders to be the same. On the other hand, if the elites, the ones from whom the leaders are drawn, are greedy, selfish, and sinful then we should expect that the common people will be as well. No matter what part of society you find yourself in, if you want others to be honest and upright, you must choose to be honest and upright. Let us choose to be honest and upright and call on those around us to be likewise.

October 5, 2014 Bible Study — Let Your Lives Be Built On Christ

For today, One Year Bible Online links here.

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Proverbs 24:23-25

    Showing favoritism when passing judgement is wrong. Holding different people to different standards of conduct will lead to condemnation and problems. Letting those one likes get away with things that one would punish others for will lead to problems. Those who hold everyone accountable to the same standard will be blessed.

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Psalm 77:1-20

    The psalmist tells us what to do when our troubles are great and God does not seem to hear. When our troubles overwhelm us and God does not seem to hear our prayers and cries for help, let us remember what He has done in the past. When we bring to mind the great things He has done for us and for others in the past, we will realize that He is biding His time until the moment is right. Let us never forget God’s power and love.

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Colossians 1:18-2:7

    We were far from God and had made ourselves His enemies through our sins. Yet, He reconciled us to Himself through the death of Christ. Our sins have been covered over by Christ’s blood. Let us remain firm in our faith in the redeeming value of the Gospel message. It is God who has bridged the gap between God and man, which was created by man’s sin. We cannot bridge that gap by our own actions.
    Paul was happy to experience sufferings for the Church and for the Gospel because by doing so he was participating in the suffering which Christ experienced. We should be happy to experience suffering in the same manner. God has given us a responsibility to tell others about Christ, warning and teaching all who will listen. Let us seek to grow to maturity in Christ and to help others do so as well. If you have accepted Jesus as your Lord, continue to follow Him (If you have not accepted Him as Lord and have read this far, I beg that you do so now).
    Let us let our roots grow down deep in Christ. I have always loved the metaphor of roots growing down deep for our faith. If you have grown a significant number of plants, you will have noticed how the roots grow out in all directions seeking water. I have right next to be now an orchid which was poorly cared for before I got it. Its roots were growing out in all directions seeking water. But since I have had it and started to regularly water it, gradually those which grew out into the air have died back and only those roots going down into where the water actually is have remained. It should be the same with us. Before we knew Christ, we sought God’s truth in all directions, getting what little spiritual “water” wherever we could find it. But now that we are in Christ, we can sink our roots deep into Him to get all of God’s truth that we can use. We no longer need to seek to extract a little bit of truth, spiritual “water”, from wherever we can find it, mixed in among other things of no value. We can turn fully to the Gospel for all of the truth, and more, that we can use to grow.

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Jeremiah 4:19-6:15

    God has prepared His judgement against the world. The forces are gathered and are about to be unleashed. He is calling us to seek out the honest and the just. As in the time of Lot when God told Abraham that if He found just five righteous people in Sodom and Gomorrah He would spare the cities, so today He is seeking five righteous people in each town. And just as in Jeremiah’s day, God is having trouble finding honest and just people among us today. This country does not need righteous laws. It needs righteous people. Are we, as the Church today, offering superficial treatments for mortal wounds? Let us not assure people of peace when there is no peace. Let us not seek to appear righteous by seeking “righteous” laws we will not follow. Let us call people to do God’s will, not call people to punish others for failing to do so.

October 5, 2013 Bible Study — Weep For the Lost

     I am using One Year Bible Online for my daily Bible study. For today, One Year Bible Online links here. I have found that by writing this daily blog of what I see when I read these scriptures, I get more out of them. I hope that by posting these ruminations others may get some benefit as well. In order to make that possible I read the passages and write my thoughts a day in advance. If you have any thoughts or comments regarding these verses or what I have written about them, please post them.

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Jeremiah 4:19-6:15

     Jeremiah expressed his sorrow for the people of Judah, for the suffering which they would soon experience. Do we feel a similar sorrow for those around us who do not know God? Jeremiah did not gain pleasure from telling his countrymen that they had sinned and judgment was about to befall them. It broke his heart to deliver the message which God had given him. But he had no choice, because he hoped that at least a few might turn to God and thus be saved.
     Jeremiah says that he searched Jerusalem and no one was honest, they were all liars. The poor and uneducated as much as the wealthy and powerful. I read this and think about society today where I see much the same thing. There is hope for a society when the “common man” embraces honesty, even if those from the leading classed do not, because a leader might emerge from among the “common man” to bring about revival. On the other hand, there is also hope for society when the leading classes embrace honesty because they may be able to show the “common man” the way to righteousness by their honor and integrity. However, when both those who lead and those who are “common folk” hold honesty and integrity in contempt, a society is doomed. There remains but one hope, the power of the Holy Spirit. I will pray to God with all of my being that He send down His Spirit upon this world. I pray that the Spirit will light a fire in the hearts of those who are willing to listen and bring about a revival.

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Colossians 1:18-2:7

     Christ is the head of the Church. God chose to reconcile everything to Himself through the blood of Christ shed on the cross. We were alienated from God because of our evil behavior, but now we have been reconciled to Him through the death of Christ’s physical body. It is our obligation to continue in the faith which we received when we heard the Gospel. God’s plan of redemption is Christ living in us. The only way that we can be fully reconciled to God is to depend entirely on the power of Christ which lives within us. If we live in Christ in the same way that He lives in us, we will be reconciled to God and experience the power of His Spirit within us. I need to build my life upon Christ, extending my roots into Him so that I am firmly planted in His will.

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Psalm 77:1-20

     The psalmist speaks of his troubles being so great that he finds it difficult to even pray. He wondered if God would ever come to his rescue. Then he started thinking about what God had done in the past. As he thought about them, one after another they came to him until they filled his thoughts. In this way we learn the answer of what to do when our troubles overwhelm us and God seems distant. The answer is to remember the things which God has done in the past, the ways in which He has saved us from troubles in times gone by.

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Proverbs 24:23-25

     Judges who show partiality and declare the guilty innocent will be denounced, but those who punish the guilty will be blessed.

October 5, 2012 Bible Study

     I am using One Year Bible Online for my daily Bible study. For today, One Year Bible Online links here. I have found that by writing this daily blog of what I see when I read these scriptures, I get more out of them. I hope that by posting these ruminations others may get some benefit as well. If you have any thoughts or comments regarding these verses or what I have written about them, please post them.

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Jeremiah 4:19-6:15

     Jeremiah tells us that the people of Judah were clever at doing wrong, but had no idea how to do right. He speaks of the destruction that God was planning against Judah and Jerusalem because of the people’s sin. Then he speaks of searching Jerusalem for an honest person. He tells us that even under oath to the Lord the people lied. Jeremiah suggests that one might expect no better of the poor, then he tells us that even the leaders of the people and the wealthy are dishonest. God gave them more than enough food and plenty of wealth and in response they turned to idolatry and to sexual sins.
     I read this and it reminded me of the rise of the middle class in the late 19th and early 20th Century. That transition occurred, to a large extent, as a result of well-to-do Christians teaching the poor to live godly lives. Teaching them to not to spend all of their money and time in drunken debauchery. The poor were taught to emulate the social mores and cultural standards of the well-to-do, who were frequently Christian (and when they weren’t, aped Christian morals). Today, our well-to-do emulate the social mores and cultural standards of the poor.
     Jeremiah tells the people of Judah that the wicked have become wealthy and set traps for people. Those with power refuse to provide justice to orphans and deny the rights of the poor. Those who should be messengers for the Lord give false prophecies and use their position for selfish ends. Worse than that, the people like it that way. That sounds much like the people of America today to me. We, as Christians, need to call on people to receive the Holy Spirit and change their lives. We have gotten caught up in the fighting over political power when we should be calling people to the Lord for the transformation of their hearts.

Colossians 1:18-2:7

     Once we were alienated from God, enemies of His in our minds. Now we have been reconciled to Him through the death of Christ. We must stand firmly in our faith in this transformation. God’s message was kept secret throughout history preceding Christ’s life, but now it has been revealed. That secret is Christ living within those who put their faith in Him. Let us work and struggle, as Paul did, to spread God’s warning and wisdom to everyone, so that they may also come to a faith in Him and the transformation that flows from that faith. We should pray and work so that believers everywhere will be knit together with bonds of love. I desire that no one be deceived by well-crafted arguments but that they maintain their faith in the Gospel of Christ. WE must continue to follow Jesus and let our roots grow down into Him. We should build our lives on Him and not allow faith in anything else challenge our loyalty to doing His will.

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Psalm 77:1-20

     The psalmist expresses his feelings that God is not listening, but then he looks back at what God has done and expresses his faith that God will not abandon those who turn to Him. We, also, need to remember that God will act according to His plans and in His time. We need to have faith that God has a plan for us, even when He does not seem to hear our cries.

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Proverbs 24:23-25

     Showing favoritism when passing judgement is wrong. Judges and peoples who let the guilty go free will be cursed, while those who punish the wicked will be blessed.