4 I am telling you this so no one will deceive you with well-crafted arguments. 5 For though I am far away from you, my heart is with you. And I rejoice that you are living as you should and that your faith in Christ is strong.
6 And now, just as you accepted Christ Jesus as your Lord, you must continue to follow him. 7 Let your roots grow down into him, and let your lives be built on him. Then your faith will grow strong in the truth you were taught, and you will overflow with thankfulness.
8 Don’t let anyone capture you with empty philosophies and high-sounding nonsense that come from human thinking and from the spiritual powers of this world, rather than from Christ. 9 For in Christ lives all the fullness of God in a human body. 10 So you also are complete through your union with Christ, who is the head over every ruler and authority.
11 When you came to Christ, you were “circumcised,” but not by a physical procedure. Christ performed a spiritual circumcision—the cutting away of your sinful nature. 12 For you were buried with Christ when you were baptized. And with him you were raised to new life because you trusted the mighty power of God, who raised Christ from the dead.
Terrie's Comments:
Paul states that he has agonized over believers he hasn't even met yet. He so much wants every believer to GET THIS! He wants us to understand without a doubt that we are no longer living in mystery about God. God's mysterious plan IS Jesus! Jesus lives in us and he will lead us into all truth.
It is all about Jesus... nothing more and nothing less. All power and authority comes from Jesus. We have been burried with Christ and our sinful nature has been cut away. We are raised to NEW LIFE when we trust the might power of God who raised Jesus from the dead!
Tori's Comments:
Sorry for my hiatus, but I'm back!
"encouraged and knit together by strong ties of love" We should love each other as passionately as Christ loves us... which is definitely saying something. And in this world of selfishness, I think this would play a big role in witnessing as our ferocious love for each other drowns out everything else.
And I really love the visual of us tied together, like we're all connected by strings that we can never let go of, even in the midst of disagreement or frustration. We're still connected. And Christ himself is the string that holds us together.
Take our personal comments or leave them. We would love to hear what stood out to you about today`s passage and how it encouraged you. Tell us in the comments below!
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Please keep all comments respectful. We want to remember that each of us is at a different place in our walk with God. This is a place for us to share openly about what has been revealed to us as we open up Gods word and to learn from others. Please take every opportunity possible to build each other up in love :-)