Christ The Center
WEEK 3 | DAY 17
Colossians 2:6-7
“So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live your lives in him, rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness.”
“So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live your lives in him, rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness.”
Making Life Secure
Paul gives insight in Ephesians 4 regarding a benchmark of the maturation process of each believer, saying “until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ. Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of people in their deceitful scheming” (Ephesians 4:13-14). The establishing/strengthening of our faith is NOT AUTOMATIC. Looking deeply into this verse, TRUE maturity happens when our relationship with Christ (knowledge = epiginosko [intimate relationship]) begins to invade every aspect of our life (fullness). This can’t happen in a void, and is almost always the result of lots of relationship time with other mature believers, letting their lives and insight be expressed in a unique type of unity without conformity. “So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up” (Ephesians 4:11-12) and this is why Colossians 2:7 includes the phrase “… as you were taught.”In the tree world, the most vulnerable time in the life of a tree happens from the breaking of the seed-coat and the emergence of a new shoot. A thousand enemies threaten a new tree – hungry animals, plows, foot-traffic, drought, flood, herbicides, etc. Trees that God has genetically programmed to live a long time spend most of their energy doing one very important thing – GROWING ROOTS. The reasons, of course, are obvious; grow a foundation first, and then the top may grow as large as it wants. A mature tree doesn’t worry about hungry animals, plows, foot traffic, drought… it is secure and the secret to its security is hidden underground in a vast root system.
The Christian life works in exactly the same way. Baby Christians start off vulnerable and in need of protection. But as believers root into their unseen relationship in Christ by personal study of His Word and, praying “in secret” (Matthew 6), then the “roots” of the believer are established and founded into something that is TOTALLY SECURE AND UNCHANGING. Other people don’t necessarily “see” these things take place – it happens below the surface, away from the praise or scrutiny of men.
Paul gives insight in Ephesians 4 regarding a benchmark of the maturation process of each believer, saying “until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ. Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of people in their deceitful scheming” (Ephesians 4:13-14). The establishing/strengthening of our faith is NOT AUTOMATIC. Looking deeply into this verse, TRUE maturity happens when our relationship with Christ (knowledge = epiginosko [intimate relationship]) begins to invade every aspect of our life (fullness). This can’t happen in a void, and is almost always the result of lots of relationship time with other mature believers, letting their lives and insight be expressed in a unique type of unity without conformity. “So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up” (Ephesians 4:11-12) and this is why Colossians 2:7 includes the phrase “… as you were taught.”In the tree world, the most vulnerable time in the life of a tree happens from the breaking of the seed-coat and the emergence of a new shoot. A thousand enemies threaten a new tree – hungry animals, plows, foot-traffic, drought, flood, herbicides, etc. Trees that God has genetically programmed to live a long time spend most of their energy doing one very important thing – GROWING ROOTS. The reasons, of course, are obvious; grow a foundation first, and then the top may grow as large as it wants. A mature tree doesn’t worry about hungry animals, plows, foot traffic, drought… it is secure and the secret to its security is hidden underground in a vast root system.
The Christian life works in exactly the same way. Baby Christians start off vulnerable and in need of protection. But as believers root into their unseen relationship in Christ by personal study of His Word and, praying “in secret” (Matthew 6), then the “roots” of the believer are established and founded into something that is TOTALLY SECURE AND UNCHANGING. Other people don’t necessarily “see” these things take place – it happens below the surface, away from the praise or scrutiny of men.
- Where do you think “young in the faith” believers have the hardest time living out their faith?
- How can a daily consistent time with Christ AND close involvement with others who also have a close relationship with Christ bring stability to our life “in the waves”?
- Do you think that by simply knowing “all the facts” about the Bible, that our lives will become SECURE?
MEMORY VERSES
PRIMARY VERSE: So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live your lives in him, rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness. Colossians 2:6-7
SECONDARY VERSE: For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ. 1 Corinthians 3:11
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