Colossians is one of those books of the Bible, that although it is short, it is packed with many truths! I love reading Paul’s epistles as they are all pointed, practical and powerful and if we take the truths that are found in them we can perform, persevere and prosper in the Christian life like he did.
“For this cause we also, since the we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to desire that ye might be filled with the knowledge of his will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding; That ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God;” Colossians 1:9-10 The goal of the Christian life is to walk worthy unto the Lord. Living a life where everything we do is pleasing unto Him. Where we are fruitful in good works. A life where we increase in knowledge unto God. In vs 9, we see that Paul was praying for these things for the church of Colosse. Praying for these things in others is a good thing. But just because you pray for someone, it is up to them to live for Christ. Same if someone is praying for you, it is up to you to live for Christ.
How do we live a life that is worthy unto the Lord? Well, we have to build our lives in Him.
- Build Downward. “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;” Colossians 1:23 We need to be grounded and settled in the faith. We need to be grounded settled in the Christian life. If our faith in Christ is settled, than we will be able to build upon that. Foundations are built below ground level, where no one can see them. We know they are they because there are buildings all around us that have withstood strong storms, due to their foundation. We don’t always think about the foundation of the building, but it is there and it is doing its job. Our foundation of faith needs to be grounded and settled, others may not see it, you may not even think of it daily, but it needs to be there so when that storm comes, you do not waver, you stand strong. Build downwards in your life, build that foundation of faith…as that is the first building block you need to walk worthy unto the Lord.
- Build Upward. “As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him: Rooted and built up in him, and stablished in the faith, as ye have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving.” Colossians 2:6-7 The first part of vs. 6 says “As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord…” That is building downward with your faith in Christ. Than these verses go on and say “Rooted and built up in him…” You can’t build up until you are rooted. You can’t build up until you build downward. You will never see a roof before a foundation at a construction site, it is not smart building. Same with the Christian life, if all you have is some walls and a roof and you have no foundation in Christ, you will be gone with the first storm. Once you have the foundation, you begin to build upward by walking with with Him everyday in Bible reading and prayer.
- Build Inward. “If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth. For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God.” Colossians 3:1-3 The way you build inward is by setting your affection on the things of Christ. When you do this, your life will reflect that. What is in your heart will come out in your attitude and your actions. Your affections affect your attitude and actions. If you have your faith in Christ, if you are walking with Christ, and if your heart is set on the things of Christ; then you are on your way to building a great life with Christ.
- Build Outward. “Walk in wisdom toward them that are without, redeeming the time.” Colossians 4:5 Once you have built yourself up in Christ, it is time to help others build themselves up in Christ. We waste too much time on our own selfish reasons that we forget that the Christian life is all about others. Once we realize that living for others, serving others, telling others about Christ is the main thing of the Christian life…and we do it. Once that happens then we can say that we have built our life in Christ and on Christ. We will never be able to build outward and build others until at first we build ourselves.
Build your life on Christ, in Christ and then help other build their life in Christ. Each one of these four steps is a necessary step in building our Christian life, but you have to build in order and then get to a point to help others to have a successful Christian life.
——————————————————————————————————————————
Thanks for your continued reading! If you would like to support us but love shopping on Amazon more, just click on this link to shop! When you do, we get a little kickback, it is just something that helps keep this blog going!!
***********************************************************************************************************
If Amazon isn’t your thing, then head over to our t-shirt shop to get your very own Counted Faithful t-shirt!
——————————————————————————————————————————
Counted Faithful 