During this time of social distancing, use your extra time at home to dive into the word of God. I’m praying these devotions through the book of Colossians will assist as you study and apply Scripture. To listen to the podcast, click the links at the bottom of the article. God bless you all through this unique time!
Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother, to the saints and faithful brothers in Christ at Colossae: Grace to you and peace from God our Father (Col. 1:1-2).
The Colossians had heard and believed in the Gospel. However, teaching that added to the Gospel was making its way into the church. We don’t know exactly what these false teachings were, but they were adding human traditions, philosophies, rules and regulations. In this letter, Paul is constantly reminding the believers of the power and sufficiency of Christ and the Gospel.
In v. 1, Paul refers to himself as an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God. Being an apostle wasn’t something Paul decided for himself…God chose to use Paul in such a powerful way. This is pretty remarkable that God would choose Paul since he was formerly a murderer of Christians.
However, examples like Paul remind of us the magnitude of God’s grace. God can take a murderer and make him into one the most influential teacher and evangelist. If God can save Paul, if he can save you and me, then we know God can save anyone!
Finally, Paul is writing to the “saints” in Colossae. Who do you think of when you think of a “saint”? Perhaps you think of some very spiritual person. However, Scripture refers to all believers as saints in Christ! We have been set apart and made holy. It’s not because of our works, but the moment we become saved we become holy. The perfect righteousness of Christ is placed on us and he takes our sin. We are holy in God’s sight! We are saints!
Application Questions:
- The Colossians were in danger of believing false teaching. How can we guard against such dangers?
- Seeing the saving power and the amazing grace of God in Paul’s testimony, do you truly believe that ANYONE can be saved? Or, do you view some people as “too bad”?
- Even though you know your own sins, do you truly believe that God sees you as a saint because of the blood of Christ?
To listen to the audio blog, you can subscribe on Apple Podcast, Spotify, Google Play, or Podbean. Thank you for reading/listening and I pray it ministers to you!
2 thoughts on “Social Distancing Devos: Colossians 1:1-2”