Colossians 1:23 - Accepting?

22But now he has reconciled you by Christ's physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation—

It's never been so hard for accept something.
It is the Gospel that we accept. It's the Gospel that saves. But how sure can we be?

Some examples of my response

1. I know that its there, but I'm not sure - Imagine you were yanked out of a huge flood, saved from drowning, but you are still holding your breath
2. I know its free, but I'm not sure - It's like going to Costco for free food samples, unsure of the "free" aspect, and leaving behind some cash.
   
3. It's a gift, but I don't want it to be - Receive a brand new suit for your birthday. Then slowly pay back each person by hiding money in places they won't look.
4. You have peace with God, but .... - Its like the war is over, but you sit in your chair geared up, and waiting for enemy troops to come invade your country.

Remember : my currency is not prayer. My chasity is not money. My purity is not even mine to achieve, and it buys me nothing. Good things are not earned from God, they are given.

Colossians 2:1-5

1For I want you to know how great a struggle I have for you and for those at Laodicea and for all who have not seen me face to face, 2that their hearts may be encouraged, being knit together in love, to reach all the riches of full assurance of understanding and the knowledge of God's mystery, which is Christ, 3in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.

that their hearts may be encouraged, being knit together in love,
Paul longs for hearts to be knit together in love! He longs for people he has never seen to before. He makes a strong connection in encouragement here. Note the participle, "being knit together in love". This phrase modifys encouraged, it answers the "how" question. The question is, what is being knit together with what?

1. Christians being knit to each other
2. Laodiceans being knit to paul
3. Christians being knit to God

All three of these choices can operate well with the "in love" modifier. One hint is the goal. If the goal is : to reach all the riches

1. We need each other as fellow believers to find the riches in christ
2. Very similar to the first
3. Christians now are knit with God to reach all the riches.

I will take the rule of nearest antecedent, and say that it is primarily choice 2, which extends to choice 1. Specifically Paul and laodecia is the reference. Some observations

1. Paul is talking about those who do not see him face to face : SEPARATION
2. Referring to "hearts that may be encouraged" referring specifically to believers' hearts

Running with this observation, unity of the heart is indispensible for the riches.

What are the riches

Full assurance of understanding - This sounds like a full guarantee, or a strong confidence of understanding.

Knowledge of God's Mystery - this is interesting because it is a mystery, how can we know it? But the mystery as stated is Christ.

which is Christ, 3in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge
This answers a lot of issues. Why would we need confidence in comprehension? What is the dilemma.

The dilemma is this: what is God planning? Why all the convoluted revelation? What is it all for? Be assured. It is christ. In every way it is Christ. Why the pain? Why the suffering? what about the promises of old? Christ in every way. This is the mystery of God. Be confident, you know everything now.

which is Christ, 3in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.
There are two possibilities I consider here.
1. That the coming of Christ, his death and resurrection; in all that are treasures of wisdom and knowledge.
2. Christ himself, his character, his example contains treasures of wisdom and knowledge.

Both choices seem legitimate, but the big hinge is the "in whom". The "in whom" seems to point to Christ as the person, and not so much as the fulfillment of Christ in the large salvific plan.

Christ was full of treasures of wisdom and knowledge. He was not full of treasures of popularity or power, or beautiful exterior. He brought knowledge, and living a poor physical life in comparison. How strange the wonder of our god to paint such interesting pictures.

Colossians 1:21-22 Enemy of hte mind?

21Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of^[f] your evil behavior. 22But now he has reconciled you by Christ's physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation— 23if you continue in your faith, established and firm, not moved from the hope held out in the gospel. This is the gospel that you heard and that has been proclaimed to every creature under heaven, and of which I, Paul, have become a servant.

Maybe Enemy of the mind refers the way God feels toward us.
One hint is in the context "reconciled you by Christ's physical body". Reconciled means to make peace, to correct. Is the enmity on both sides?

Man, the bible is difficult. What does "by Christ's physical body through death" mean?

On a side note, how can anyone study the bible without studying romans? Each of the epistles is a case study. All the epistles use the concepts found in romans to make their magic. If we could reference romans, this would be a much easier task.

Colossians 1:21-22 In continuation of Goodness

21Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of^[f] your evil behavior. 22But now he has reconciled you by Christ's physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation— 23if you continue in your faith, established and firm, not moved from the hope held out in the gospel. This is the gospel that you heard and that has been proclaimed to every creature under heaven, and of which I, Paul, have become a servant.

21Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of^[f] your evil behavior.

Well that's it folks. We've lost. We were enemies in our minds because of evil behavior. The interesting thing about this sentence is the order. We were alientated. We were enacted on. By what? What cause? If we look at Romans 1 we see that we were given up to our evil desires. Our hearts wandered far, and longed to be away from God, so god gave us to those desires. But this passage seems to imply differently. There is a phrase - "because of your evil behavior". Our repeated trespassing has brought us exclusion.

It is interesting that we were 2 things at once. 1.) Alienated from God, and 2.) Enemies in your minds. What does Enemies in your minds mean? The two phrases are definitely parallel, but not necessarily synonymous. Man.... english language. Perhaps it means

1. I think I'm an enemy
2. My mind is the only enemy, not my body

Ok.. im fizzling right now...

Romans 1: 18 and on

18For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth.

28And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done. 29They were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness. They are gossips, 30slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, 31foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless. 32Though they know God's decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them.

I read a C.S. Lewis quote a while ago. It was something along the lines of:

"Imagine you are visiting a country, and find many of the people sitting around watching the slow unveiling of a piece of bacon. Wouldn't you think something was wrong with their appetites? It is not necessarily starvation, or not necessarily glutton"

and similarly from Merton:

"Only a good man knows what bad is. A bad man knows either. A good man would feel terrible about his badness, because he understands both good and evil. To the bad man, everything is quite evil, all the time."

The wrath of God is a scary thing. Our natural being is a pleasure sink. That sink is not easily plugged. As romans states, we were meant to see God and acknowledge him for who he is, yet we now find ourselves mucking around in the physical, trying to make up for the divine. What a travesty! Imagine! Trying to substitute a picture of pill rather than the real medicine. There are few resemblances, and even fewer common effects. Eating the picture will do nothing more than upset your stomach, medicine will make you feel better.

Ok, so that is not the best example, but I am of a finite mind. My only ability is to imagine the divine consistency. And how deep our sin is. The end of Romans i have cited states that we were given up to be full of all these nasty things. Perhaps the most terrible part is that we know them to be wrong, and yet we do them. The other terrible thing is that we encourage others to do them.

How bad are we really? And who's standard are we using to say so?

Most days I wake up and I don't feel that bad, short of a bad argument or a malicious deed the day before. If i sit at my favorite restaurant with my desired sandwich, I do not feel particularly evil. And yet we are. Our most blatant and blaring quality somehow goes unnoticed.

Maybe its because we are quite quite bad. I've always wondered just how bad we are. Many times we read Romans one and say, my, that sounds a lot like a horde of evil soldiers set on conquest, but by heavens, that does not describe myself.

What does 1 John say? If you say you do not have sin, you lie, and the truth is not in you? And also even what Merton said before, we are ignorant; the cause is the lack of any silver of good.

Who will save such a people?

Only God almighty.

From Piper 4 Mistakes I hope you don't make

From Piper's sermon - 4 mistakes not to make

1. Bigger is better than smaller
2. New is better than Old
3. Having is better than Being
4. Visible is better than invisible

This four points shot through my head in the middle of a Warcraft match. These little philosophical bullets penetrated my thought path and well, are still floating in the cerebellum. I marvel that but a few words can be so malleable to embody so many situations.

I am quite aware that some people don't know what to do with these small tidbits. Some people prefer sayings like "Don't waste your life", or "careful not to spend too much money". That is all fine and good. But for me, these sayings are the trees for the forest of application. Some of the very roots of healthy trees are these 4 truths. And no forest of maturity will grow, unless I have stable trees in every issue.

I could talk about larger is not necessarily better than smaller. There is david. There is the mustard seed. There is the small faith of hannah. There is the faith of abraham. There is the small faith of the centurion. Even small disciplines grow to be huge tidal waves. And we wonder why we cannot change.

We cannot learn to lift a car till we train ourselves with rocks, then with microwaves, then refrigerators, then ovens, and eventually cars. In the same way with our lord and the parallel battle of living holy and fighthing sin, let us plan similarly. Fight the week ones, then target the big ones.

It all starts small

Colossians 3:1-4

1So if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy, 2complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. 3Do nothing from rivalry or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. 4Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.

If there is any encouragement
This statement is a guarantee. There are many things that encourage, but if there is ANY encouragement in Christ, "complete my joy". "Of being in unity. Paul longs for unity in the church. His longing is that all people would be servants first.

Rivalry, conceit, humility, these are to be our garments, covering a heart that counts others to be much much more significant. It is his desire that we all care for others.

My roommate preached a message on this years ago.
"If you always are taking care of other people, who will take care of you?"

God will.
"But ...." Anything that follows those 3 little words is a lack of faith in our Lord God. Does he not promise all things? Why do we not have them? Because we do not have the knowledge or the wisdom.

Colossians 1:21-23

21And you, who once were alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, 22he has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him, 23if indeed you continue in the faith, stable and steadfast, not shifting from the hope of the gospel that you heard, which has been proclaimed in all creation^[g] under heaven, and of which I, Paul, became a minister.

3 Things Purposed by the dying of Christ's flesh

1. Present me Holy
2. Present me Blameless
3. Present me above reproach

Holy - having a spiritually pure quality, dedicated or devoted to the service of God
In all ways we are to be presented pure, and dedicated and devoted to God. Holy has the direct idea of God mixed in with the perfect purity. One can have a pure rock. But that purity has no connection with God or divinity. The word Holy added implies God's touch or interest in this particular object. "Pure rock" vs. "Holy rock" is very very different. "Holy" demands honor and reverence. "Pure" means uniform.

Blameless vs. above reproach - is there any difference here? Blameless is literally, without blame; there is no reason to blame this object. There is no fault to be had on our subject. Above reproach. Above is interesting, in comparison to something like "beyond reproach". In this phrase is a little concession that the object is indeed possible of being reproachable.

Being beyond reproach would imply that reproach would not dare come close to you. But being above reproach seems to say that the razor comes close, but we are still some distance from being cut.

if indeed you continue in the faith, stable and steadfast, not shifting from the hope of the gospel that you heard

Continuing on. Good tennis players do not make one good shot. Good bands do not put out one good song. Great people and great teams are the ones that perform above the standard consistently. Continue. What a strong word. The power of God changes. It does not avert, it does not detour, it does not delay. The power of God changes course, and that course must be followed. We must not follow empty channels in our journeys but hold to the hope of the Gospel.

What is that hope? That we may HAVE God. That we might know him! Why is knowing him of the utmost? It is because our hands are incapable, our eyes are unworthy, our hearing too weak. What shall contain Almighty? The fraction that can be HAD of God is in is word, and in the Holy Spirit that dwells in us. What containers do we have? The heart and the head.

Now how do we grip? How do we grab? How do we touch? Our minds and our hearts have no fingers and no palms. The only thing we are left with is great emotion for our lord in our hearts. To have God in our mind, we know him. It is not a knowing God like there is a test, or a structure that must be understood. No, knowing God is how we may have but a piece of him in our minds.

Disclaimer; by saying we "have" God, I am not implying that there is a limitation of God or an amount of God, that would be a blasphemey.

Oh hope, weak mind, weak heart, that we might be joined with God. Continue. Continue on the hope of the Gospel.

Colossians 1:11

• May you be strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy, 12giving thanks^[d] to the Father, who has qualified you^[e] to share in the inheritance of the saints in light.

One thing I will always admire about my father is his kind tone. It was warm, and felt trustworthy and sophisticated. Come to think of it, he never really had a lot of spunk, or slang. Reading this verse reminds me a lot of my father speaking to me.

"May you be". What humility! "May"! He didn't choose "should" or "could" or "definitely". It is a strong wish, much like a small child's wish for a gift. There is great uncertainty about what will happen, but that does not tarnish the gold and the iron resolve to wish all the more. How we have so moved beyond wishing. May we wish great things in our God who promises lavish promises to us! We don't throw pennies to a murky pond, but great thoughts and desires to the fountain of creation and life, YHWH.

"Strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might" This phrase brings to mind the very familiar boy's dream of being terribly powerful. All boys desire to be strong, courageous, a warrior of sorts, no matter what body we are gifted with. I imagine many many stories where the old master teaches his ways to his young apprentice, who has been entrusted with secret power. I also think of many stories where the young hero must sit and gather his great power for a difficult battle.

According to his glorious might. "According" means "along the same vein" or "as to be expected as" or "similar to". All power is parallel or similar to "his glorious might". What a peculiar topic! Do we see any glorious might before us? Do we see the potency of oblivion on display? Standard day to day living shows us very little of glorious might. What might we know of glorious might?

• He conquers death
  
• The world is upheld in constancy
• Our hearts go on without our commands

Note also
glorious = delightful; wonderful; completely enjoyable; brilliantly beautiful or magnificent
might = superior power or strength.

How utterly confusing these words are. How can there be beautiful strength? Or wonderful strength? And why are are reinforced by a beautiful/wonderful power/strength? If the battle demands "all" power. Why are we given "wonderful" strength?

• Guess: because Strongest power we are given is at the same time, the most wonderful news. Much like the best thing to do for an incapacitated soldier, is to give him his full health and fighting ability. What strong power, and also, how wonderful to have his arms and legs back!
  

All power must be gathered because of the coming battle. But what is the nature of the coming storm? what is it that should require "all power"?

"for all endurance and patience with joy"

The battle is not a dark wizard. No, it is not a band of thieves. it is not a long lost revenge seeking father either. It is fighting these foes day by day, repeatedly. Any small imp can topple strongholds given much persistence and determination. Perhaps this is why the bible sets us on that road also. One does not fight chess players with water guns, nor soldiers with 3-point basketball shots. Sword to sword, fist to fist, iron to iron.

The same persistent evil in the world that slowly steals at you must be fought with the same vigilance and determination. Each battle is dire. Distress is not to be given quarter either. If a battle is lost, vigilance must be preserved, do not cry over land lost, but press on for the land kept. And in the same way, conquer the darkness, our sin, our human weakness, ounce by ounce.

To do this for YEARS! What a thought. And to do so with JOY! Oh how weak our arms feel, and how hollow our legs seem. How can such a thing be possible? How can one be a such a soldier?

Only by Wonderful power.

Colossians 1:9-10

• asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, 10so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord,

Spiritual wisdom. I think i've heard numerous numerous sermons on Spiritual Wisdom. Fingers on keyboard now, I cannot think of a solid definition. What is "spiritual" wisdom? And similarly, what is "spiritual" understanding?

Physical wisdom, well that sounds like telling people not to stab themselves. "Physical" in front of wisdom is the goal. Physical goodness, or peak performance is the goal, and then "wisdom" would be the maintenance, the path, or the choice.

Physical wisdom could also just classify what the wisdom is concerning. Wisdom of all things that are physical.

So, what is "spiritual" wisdom? It could be the choices and paths that lead to the highest/bestest spirit? Or it could just be wise things of all things that are spiritual.

I am even more perplexed about "spiritual" understanding. Can we really understand spirits? Watching some of Warner Bros. cartoons, such as Yugioh, gives me some interesting ideas. Spirits are captured in gold objects, and inhabit them waiting for unsuspecting teenagers with bad hairdos. One their hosts are possessed, then proceed to play demon bridge or hearts with other dead Spirits. Doesn't exactly strike me as divine.

The one aspect that colors a lot of these shows, stories, and tales is other-worldlyness. There is another world. There is more than what we see. There is another realm. Ok, so the other realm isn't filled with alternate universes, giants, midgets, or elvis presley, but its there. And God dwells there.

When i think about it, there are many elements that human kind has picked up on in "spirituality". It is just a pity that we do not assemble the ideas in the correct fashion. We do not take the hints to lead us to our culprit, God almighty. We fancy clue by clue, and try to imagine what sort of interesting magician has left us peculiar oddities. Where are the hungry? Where are the desperate? Have we become so inenebriated that we float physically, and spiritually now also?

With these two difficult terms, we are truely at a loss. Wisdom is indeed far better than much Gold. May the lord bless us with his understand from the word, and the principles assembled by the Holy spirit within us.

Colossians 1:9

• 9And so, from the day we heard, we have not ceased to pray for you, asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding,

Urgency. I hear a urgency. The pressing need of prayer, a constant request, repeatedly submitted to the lord.

Remember asking for a guitar many times. Repeatedly. When that phase ended. I continued again, like a shrinking lobbyist, rallying for more funds for poor little children on the street. Well, my desires were much more selfish. Timmy wanted a shiny new guitar. I remember pestering my folks for more money until they gave it to me. They didn't even give me the full amount, but i took what i could get. I wasn't even sure i would GET the money. Still, a hungry dog chasing after the steak I pressed on.

How humbling my prayer practice is in comparison.

It's the numbers, no, its the time, and even at the core, its just a weak desire. The enemy has me harrowed in on all fronts. From eye-viewed reality, circumstances loom closer. From mind-silo, thoughts seem exhausted. And From the hearth of my soul, the fountain seems to be drying up.

If I would only pray more.

It's a huge disconnect! HUGE! I feel the powerlessness. I feel the weakness. I feel the anxiety and the fear. Why not pray? Why not pray? Why not pray?

I just don't. What evil that is! Be amazed oh heavens, this tiny man has skipped and frisked his most deepest foundation! He has tried to hold his own breath under toxic, when a request would have fished him from the depths!