For the next several weeks, I will be sharing my favorite Bible passages. These are the places in the Bible I return to time and time again for comfort, reassurance or fresh insight.
My favorite passage is in the book of Colossians. (It is hard to pick a favorite, I know, but if I had to, this one would be it.) Here it is.
For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form, and you have been given fullness in Christ, who is the head over every power and authority. In him you were also circumcised, in the putting off of the sinful nature, not with a circumcision done by the hands of men but with the circumcision done by Christ, having been buried with him in baptism and raised with him through your faith in the power of God, who raised him from the dead. When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, having canceled the written code, with its regulations, that was against us and that stood opposed to us; he took it away, nailing it to the cross. And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross. Colossians 2:9-15 (NIV)
Here are the reasons this passage tops my list of favorites.
- It starts with Christ and ends with Christ. In six verses, Paul explains who Jesus is and the meaning of His death, burial and resurrection.
- I learned that my real problem was spiritual death, and that something had to happen to me before change could take place in my life. I had tried to be God’s guy, but my efforts came up woefully short.
- In the plainest language possible, it states that all my sins have been forgiven.
- It also tells me that the law of sin and death has been taken away.
- It declares that my enemy was defeated and disarmed through Christ’s triumphant victory at the cross.
- It tells me that I am complete, or have fullness, in Jesus Christ.
Some thirty years ago is when this passage hit my heart. I was confused about Christianity, and why I was such a colossal failure as far as my Christian life was concerned. Paul’s straight forward words flipped a switch in my understanding. I felt forgiven and that there was hope for me. The weight of trying to do it on my own was lifted. But more than anything, I felt alive.
Perhaps you feel defeated in your Christian life, or that you are mired in guilt and shame. It could be that you sense an emptiness deep within your heart, or that something is just plain wrong with you. If so, read this passage carefully. Jesus knows where you are. Who He is and what He accomplished through His death, burial and resurrection can change who you are. This passage was the catalyst for me to look to Him. I pray it will be the same for you.
Amen, Bob It can take a long time to understand this completely as one grows in grace, seeing it is all God and none of us except being God’s vessel at my walk I just recently started seeing truth behind 1 John 3:1
3 See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him. 2 Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when Christ appears,we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. 3 All who have this hope in him purify themselves, just as he is pure.
The 3 rd verse is what stood out to me, one can only be purified, by seeing they are alredy purified by God through Christ, therefore one walks it out
Howard
Hey Howard, 1 John 3:1-3 is on my list of favorite passages. I will be blogging about it later in this series. Thanks for sharing.
Thanks Bob, hey can you get my url sight changed i did not get blogspot in there between you. and .com, when I tried to change it correctly I was not able to post until I changed it back
Thanks in advance
Howard
YES a great passage and it so ties in with my favorite passage: 2 Corinthians 5:17 “Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.” (2 Corinthians 5:17, NASB95). God intended from the very begining to live in His creation. We know that Adam fell and caused God to withdraw His Life from Adam. In our new creation God is once again living in His creation so the lost and dying world can again see the invisible God. All of God lives in us through our new creation. This is exactly the same relationship Jesus had as the Son of Man. Jesus came out of Heaven and put you and me on in the same way He had put humanity on for His first visit. The Life of God now lives in and through us in our new creation.
I just wanted to thank you for shedding true light on my life and helping me let go of guilt and shame. Even though I’m a follower of Christ Jesus I have struggled with not being able to let go feel changed in my thinking when it comes to true freedom.
I heard your program on a local Christian station AM 550 in Vancouver, B.C and it lead me to the understanding of being saved and forgiven. It’s amazing how God can lead us to the truth.
It is through your website and Gods word that I’m finally able to understand how much Jehovah our Father loves us so much and how we have been forgiven through Jesus. I have been struggling so much and now I’m free!
Thank you for freedom and understanding through your ministry.
Glory to God!