Seeds for 2/1/2023 - Colossians 1:25-27
Scripture: “I have become its servant by the commission God gave me to present to you the word of God in its fullness—the mystery that has been kept hidden for ages and generations, but is now disclosed to the Lord’s people. To them God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.”
Observation: For the first time in a little while, I find myself zooming out a bit to catch the whole flow of thought that leads to what I’m observing today. Paul speaks of being commissioned by God to “present to you the word of God in its fullness.” He calls the full word of God “the mystery that has been kept hidden… now disclosed to the Lord’s people.” So in the past, when the word of God came through Moses and the prophets who were speaking to the people on God’s behalf, it was the authentic word of God, but not in its fullness. There was still mystery—something undisclosed, unseen, unknowable.
But in Jesus, the “word made flesh,” or earlier in this letter, “the image of the invisible God,” the mystery has been revealed! The curtain is pulled back and we find that God’s powerful, creating, self-revealing, law-pronouncing, wisdom-giving word in its fullness is not a philosophy, a pronouncement, or a set of principles, but a Person, the Son of God, Jesus Christ.
Further, how is God making known the “glorious riches of this mystery” among the world? It is “Christ in you, the hope of glory.” Memorize that line. The glorious riches of the mystery—the word of God in its fullness—is “Christ is you, the hope of glory.” Amazing. Jesus fills us—yes, us! Flawed, imperfect us! But the point is that if we can have “the hope of glory” because Christ has come to live in us, then He can come to dwell in anyone. It’s not about us—the containers, it’s about Him—the treasure. But what a gift to us: “The glorious riches of [the] mystery” of God’s word in its fullness, “is Christ in you, the hope of glory.”
Application: How does knowing that the glorious riches of God’s mystery is “Christ in you, the hope of glory” increase our humility? How does it increase our sense of dignity and worth?
Prayer: Lord, help me step aside so that people see Christ in me, the hope of glory. Amen.
“But the seed falling on good soil refers to someone who hears the word and understands it. This is the one who produces a crop, yielding a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown.” (Matthew 13:23)
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Powerful words!