Colossians Devotional | Who Do You Think You Are?
Colossians: Christ Above and Before All
The Glory of God Revealed in Jesus
Who Do You Think You Are?
“6 Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, 7 rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving.” - (Colossians 2:6-7)
If you know who you are, you know what to do.
We make our daily decisions, conscious or unconscious, based on who we think we are. Those attacking the Colossians were lying to them, telling them they weren’t yet saved, not yet loved by God, forgiven by him. They were deceiving, saying that there’s more to do and more to know in order for Jesus to really love you.
Paul wants to take this sort of lie out, into the light, and shoot it in the face with the truth. He does it in the simplest way. Here’s who you are, Colossians:
You are people who’ve received Jesus
You are people who are rooted in him
You are people who are built up in him
You are people established in the faith of his cross
You are people who have been taught
Don’t forget who you are because of Jesus and don’t believe the lies of others. You’ve been taught the gospel--the gospel that tells you the truth. Jesus is the God-man, the Son of God, who lived for you and died in your place; he’s purchased forgiveness of your sin; though you haven’t seen him yourself, you have believed. Now, God knows you and you can know God.
If that’s the truth about us as Christians, now we can know what we ought to do. We don’t need to worship angels, seek mystical visions, be super strict about religious festivals or traditions, or attain moral perfection in every way possible, all the time.
What we do now, believing what God says about us, is (Paul says) “walk in him,” “abounding in thanksgiving.” In short, that means:
Look at the testimony of Jesus--the Bible. Learn who he is, what his heart and mind is, and then follow him. Obey his commands and live under his example.
Live every day like someone who is happily bewildered by the gospel--that the God of the Universe, of all people, loves you, approves of you, and is protecting and providing for you.
So, who do you think you are? Will you believe who God says you are, or will you believe the lies of Satan, the sinful world, and your own sinful flesh?
What will you do today? Will you open the Bible, ask God to show you how you can think, feel, act, and speak like him? Will you pray in thanksgiving and then act like someone who’s won an intergalactic, cosmic lottery?