Colossians 2
Rebecca Lightfoot
Once we become followers of Jesus Christ,we have a tendency to veer away from The Truths about eternal things,& even away from The Truths about Who Jesus is.In fact,in any area of our lives,when we become relationally secure in any way we have a tendency to rest on the laurels of that security,instead of putting up hedges of protection around that relationship...in our minds/hearts/lives.The end result of this is that our faithfulness to that relationship begins to wane.This begins with the thoughts that start to become part of our mind/heart/life.Whatever we begin to think will in some way assimilate into our entire life.We may be able to continue to act according to what faithfulness to that relationship would describe for a while,but as our thoughts continue to drift away from faithful thoughts we become increasingly susceptible to veering away from that relationship!This is some of what Paul is addressing in Colossians.The people are fairly new followers of Jesus,as was most everyone at that time.Their enthusiasm over the new found securities in Christ Jesus have given them a euphoria that has changed their lives.If we stop at the euphoria of the security we have in Christ,and do not seek to know more and more about Christ and His Ways/His Heart...then we become susceptible to half truths and even totally false ideas & thoughts about Christ and His Ways/His Heart.As this happens,our faith will drift from the Truths about Jesus and His Ways/His Heart...& our faith will become tethered to things other than the True Jesus and His True Ways/His True Heart....,leading to a waning of the miraculous peace and joy that only True Faith in Jesus and His True Ways/His True Heart can only give.Paul sees this beginning to happen in the lives of the Colossians...,so he writes them a letter strongly encouraging them to turn back to seeking to know the Truths about Jesus;His Ways;&His Heart!Colossians2:1-6,”I want you to know how hard I am contending for you....My goal is that they may be encouraged in heart and united in love, so that they may have the full riches of complete understanding, in order that they may know the mystery of God, namely, Christ,in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.I tell you this so that no one may deceive you by fine-sounding arguments.For though I am absent from you in body, I am present with you in spirit and delight to see how disciplined you are and how firm your faith in Christ is.”.In order to prevent a veering away from happening in our lives,Paul prays for their “complete understanding” to be developed as they “disciplined” their minds/hearts/lives in the direction of “complete understanding” so they would not be “deceived by fine sounding arguments”->which lead to minds/hearts/lives that veer away from having a True Relationship with Jesus Christ as Savior & Lord.The danger becomes as we veer away from a True Relationship with Jesus Christ,we may be unaware of the “who”(or what)we are veering toward that is deceptively leading us away from Jesus Christ.Dear Lord Jesus,I know I have veered from You many times...I praise You for always being merciful and gracious in drawing me back to You via Your Truths and Your Promises.I pray for Paul’s Prayer for discipline be my personal prayer as well as my prayer for those around me...so I and they may be kept from deceiving arguments and that my mind/heart/life may be empowered with discipline from You.