Colossians 1:23
23 if indeed you remain grounded and steadfast in the faith and are not shifted away from the hope of the gospel that you heard. This gospel has been proclaimed in all creation under heaven, and I, Paul, have become a servant of it.
If is an important word. In verses 21 and 22, Paul told us that we were once alienated and even hostile (toward God), but have now been presented holy, blameless, and faultless through Jesus’ death. That’s great news! And then the if comes in…
What happens when someone decides to no longer surrender to King Jesus in faith? The implication of this verse is that faith is the linchpin, not just for our initial response to God’s grace, but also for our continual response. In other words, “without faith it is impossible to please God” (Hebrews 11:6). Now, this isn’t the same thing as doubt. This is full-fledged abandonment.
If Christ really is who we’ve seen Colossians say He is, then there isn’t anything that should steer us away from Him. If He has the authority, the dominion, and the power we’ve seen be said about Him, why would we ever walk away? What would make us shift away from the hope that we have in Jesus? What could possibly break the anchor we have released to keep us in the middle of hope?
Here’s an exercise to do today: think through or even write down a list of things that if they were taken from you, you would struggle to continue to hope in the gospel of Jesus Christ.
This verse reminds me of Job, the faithful man who had everything taken away from him. He suffered. He was broken. And it was all Satan’s doing. Not to mention, God was allowing it all to happen. Satan wanted Job to curse God and he figured that if he could hurt Job deep enough, Job would curse God and leave the faith.
But what we see in Job is that he didn’t have anything or anyone above God in his worship. God was on the throne.
If something can be taken from us and the loss of it would cause us to abandon the hope of the gospel, we are no longer worshiping King Jesus, we are worshiping the thing or person we lost.
So let’s do that exercise and let God examine our hearts today.
Onward, saints.
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