Monday, November 25, 2024

Finishing the Race – Strong! (15)


Continuing from our last post:


“In Him you have been made complete” (Colossians 2:10a). 


“By this will [God’s will] we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all” (Hebrews 10:10). 


“For by one offering He has perfected for all time those who are sanctified” (Hebrews 10:14). 


Along with 2 Timothy 1:7 and 1 John 4:18, Colossians 2:10 was a vital image in my early life in overcoming fear, insecurity, and peer pressure. Peer pressure, insecurity, and fear often stem from the idea that we don’t measure up, that we are incomplete, that there is something wrong with us. However, In Jesus Christ we have been made perfect and complete. In Christ, we will never be more complete than we already are. 


Now it is understandable to think, “You’ve got to be kidding. How can this be? Let me tell you what I did earlier today that I wish I hadn’t.”


Your point is well taken. Indeed, how can this be? How can we be complete and yet act like fools and hurt others? How can we be complete and still sin? 


This is along the same line of mystery that we have in 2 Corinthians 5:21: “He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him.” 


As one of my friends has put it for years, “We are becoming who we already are.” 


John express this in his first letter, “Beloved, now we are the sons of God, and it has not appeared as yet what we will be. We know that when He appears, we will be like Him, because we will see Him just as He is” (1 John 3:3). 


There are two foundational principles in all of this, and as all eternal principles they flow from Jesus Christ. The first regards our faith, do we believe God and His Word? Biblical faith has substance, it has a foundation, and it has sight – we see God and eternal things, heavenly things, when Biblical faith grows within us. Biblical faith is not blind faith. (See Hebrews Chapter 11). Biblical faith brings us into union with the Trinity. 


Biblical faith does not mean that we have no fear or doubt, but it does mean that in the midst of our fear and doubt that we trust our Good Shepherd who prepares a table for us in the presence of our enemies. 


This brings me to an equation that I have occasionally mentioned:


I can believe what others think and say about me, or I can believe what Satan says about me, or I can believe what I think about myself, or I can believe what God says about me.


Note that this has nothing to do with self-esteem, and everything to do with God and His Word. 


God’s Word, the Bible, is clear on the glorious work of Jesus Christ in the Incarnation, the Cross, and the Resurrection and Ascension. When we come into a relationship with Him, He brings us to a place in Himself in which we are pure and holy and complete and unconditionally forgiven and cleansed of our sins. We are even said to be “raised up with Him and seated with Him in heavenly places” (Eph. 2:6). 


We either believe this or we do not. Yes, yes, this belief can be a process, a growing awareness that the glorious Gospel is indeed true for us, and its glory is unfolding to be sure (2 Cor. 3:17–18). It is the object of our faith that is critical, not the measure of our faith. 


I have been incredulous when I’ve been in Bible studies and small groups in which the reaction to a Bible passage is, “I don’t believe this. Is this credible? I’ll accept this part of the passage but not that part.” 


It is one thing to wrestle with a passage, it is another thing to attempt to make the passage submit to us when we should be submitting to God’s Word. It is one thing to say, “I don’t understand this.” It is another thing to say, “I don’t believe this.”


The father cried to Jesus, “Lord, I believe. Help my unbelief.” This is a cry that is honest and hopeful and that honors God and that throws itself on our Father’s mercy. 


Someone once said to me, “You have a simple faith.” That was a complement to the glory of Jesus. Yes, I suppose my faith is simple. I believe Jesus and I believe everything that God has said in His Word, whether I understand it or not, whether I see it or not, whether I have experienced it or not. 


When we draw our final breath, we will have only Jesus on the other side to hold us. Why not let Him hold us right now? 


Colossians 2:10 was a source of mediation and confession in the same way that I previously described 2 Timothy 1:7 and 1 John 4:18. I held the image of Colossians 2:10 in my heart and mind and it grew in my soul. James tells us to receive with humility the implanted Word which is able to save our souls, to make them whole and complete (James 1:21). 


I’ll touch on the second foundational principle, the Lord willing, in the next post in this series. 


Believing God and His Word is critical to finishing well and strong.


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