Verse of the Day and Devotional 6/22/2023

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Verse of the Day

June 22nd, 2023
Scripture
Since the day we heard these things about you, we have continued praying for you. This is what we pray: That God will make you completely sure of what he wants by giving you all the wisdom and spiritual understanding you need; that this will help you live in a way that brings honour to the Lord and pleases him in every way; that your life will produce good works of every kind and that you will grow in your knowledge of God. – Colossians 1:9-10 ERV
Devotion

The small Colossian church to whom Paul wrote was immersed in a society filled with many religious and cultic expressions. The air was thick with all kinds of philosophical ideas and worship rites that Paul was quite concerned would seep into the fledgling church. One particularly influential strand of Greek philosophy taught that the cosmos was divided between the upper air from where astral bodies controlled human destiny and the physical world. The atmosphere in between was filled with spirits, including angels (Colossians 2:18), that needed to be venerated through purity and ascetic practices to allow humans to pass into the fullness of the divine realm. Discerning what these spirits wanted required special people to obtain a spiritual “wisdom” through ecstatic spiritual experiences.

But by praying that God would give all the believers in Colossae wisdom and understanding, Paul challenges and discredits this entire worldview! He quotes a hymn to exalt Jesus as the image of the invisible God and superior to all other deities, ideas, or powers (Colossians 1:15-20). And Jesus, God’s Son, came into our physical world to “bring all things back to himself again – things on earth and things in heaven” (Colossians 1:20). Paul is expressing that the believers do not need any special wisdom to reach God. God has already reached them through His Son and brought them into His kingdom (Colossians 1: 12-14).

New Testament writers often drew from the Jewish Wisdom tradition when they wrote about Jesus. In Proverbs 8, Wisdom is portrayed as a companion and co-worker to God. The author states that those who find Wisdom find life, but those who reject Wisdom hurt themselves and love death. For us who belong to Christ, all the fullness of God lives in us (Colossians 2:6-10)! “The old life you had here is gone, and the new life you share with Christ is kept safe for you by God” (Colossians 3:3). And so, Paul instructs the Colossian believer, and us, to let the teaching (wisdom) of Christ live inside us richly (Colossians 3:16) so that we may honor Him and live in a way that pleases Him.

What steps can you take to let the teaching of Christ live in you?

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