“To the saints and faithful brethren in Christ which are at Colosse: Grace be unto you, and peace, from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ” (Col. 1:2).

There are times in life when a dedicated child of God needs to reflect upon the greatness of what he has in Christ.  Doubt, despair, and the like can creep in if one is not prudent.  The letter to the Colossian congregation was of such great importance that Paul even requested that the congregation at Laodicea receive this same information for their benefit (cf. Col. 4:16).  Consider what saints and faithful brethren know.

1. Recipient of the Grace and Peace of God. This letter begins with the blessings of grace and peace.  These are two strengths that keep the faithful settled in mind.  Salvation is by the grace of God (cf. Eph. 2:5) and the peace of God is a wonderful spiritual benefit to the faithful (cf. Col. 3:15).  John wrote the book of First John to strengthen the faith of the brethren, when he wrote, “But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin” (1 John 1:7).  The grace of God continues to motivate (cf. 1 Cor. 15:10) and the peace of God continues to keep the mind at ease (cf. Phil. 4:6-7).  There are some outside and some inside the church who would say that churches of Christ (cf. Rom. 16:16) do not really believe in the grace and peace of God as a present, existing state.  Such could not be further from the truth.  One should heed Paul’s warning, “Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit” (Col. 2:8).
2. Reconciled unto God Through Christ. Paul wrote, “And you, that were sometime alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled in the body of his flesh through death, to present you holy and unblameable and unreproveable in his sight: if ye continue in the faith grounded and settled, and be not moved away from the hope of the gospel, which ye have heard, and which was preached to every creature which is under heaven; whereof I Paul am made a minister” (Col. 1:21-23).  While this section underscores the conditional nature of continuing to be holy and faithful in one’s walk with the Lord, it also underscores that one is still in that reconciled state from the point that he died to sin (cf. Col. 2:20; 3:3) was buried with Christ in baptism (cf. Col. 2:12) and was raised with Christ to live anew (cf. Col. 3:1).  The Father has “delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son” (Col. 1:13).
3. Reassured of the Hope in Christ. Hope is a constant message in the book of Colossians (cf. Col. 1: 5, 23, 27).  Hope from the Biblical perspective is a quiet confidence and earnest expectation of God’s promises being fulfilled.  If the faithful child of God could not know that he had hope, how could he have the true joy that is in Christ?  Paul stated of hope, “If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable” (1 Cor. 15:19).  Notice in that verse that Paul stated that the child of God has hope in this life as well as the hope of the life after this earthly life in view of the resurrection of Christ.  Hope is an element of spirituality that has to do with salvation (cf. Rom. 8:24).  Faithful, hold on and press on!

Jimmy Clark