Knowing Christ Jesus My Lord

March 30, 2018

Knowing Christ Jesus My Lord

Let your roots grow down into him, and let your lives be built on him. Then your faith will grow strong in the truth you were taught, and you will overflow with thankfulness.

Colossians 2:7

Read: Colossians 2:1-7

Pretend you are dreaming and in your dream you walk into a small jewelry store. The display case on your left glimmers with beautiful diamonds, on your right are rubies and sapphires, behind you are emeralds, and in a display case in the middle are the most beautiful pearls you have ever seen. “Help yourself,” the proprietor says. Where do you begin? That’s pretty much how I feel after reading Colossians Two. There are so many precious gems, so many pearls, where do I begin? The precious gem that caught my attention today is in verse 3.

In this gem, I see Paul connecting the life in Christ to the words of Jesus, “I am the way, the truth, and the life” (John 14:6). Paul teaches us that Jesus is our way of life, the truth of our life, our very life, because in Jesus are “all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge” (Colossians 2:3). Paul then describes our mission to seek the life in Christ as our way of life: “And now, just as you accepted Christ Jesus as your Lord, you must continue to follow him.  Let your roots grow down into him, and let your lives be built on him. Then your faith will grow strong in the truth you were taught, and you will overflow with thankfulness” (Colossians 2:6-7).

There is a huge temptation in our culture to try and be satisfied by just adding Jesus to our existing lives, as though we were adding a little spiritual seasoning to our life. Over and against this we hear the Great Commandment: "You must love the LORD your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your strength, and all your mind” (Luke 10:27). When we make this our ambition, when we let our roots grow down into him, and let our lives be built on him, we find that in Jesus are all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge, and we’ll never be satisfied with just a little spiritual seasoning.

My Takeaway: Yesterday, in preparation for hearing Paul’s word from Colossians 2, we read again of the Supremacy of Christ, Colossians 1:15-20. Then we heard Paul proclaim that this Christ, who is supreme over all, lives in us!!!! Then today, Paul tells us that in Jesus are “all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.” My response is to join Paul and affirm in my life, “Yes, everything else is worthless when compared with the infinite value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord” (Philippians 3:8).

Sē’lah

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(Selah is a word that appears in the Book of Psalms that I often use as the Complimentary Closing in my correspondence. Its meaning, as I use the word, is to pause and think about these things.)

These meditations are written by Alex M. Knight as he seeks the life in Christ as his way of life.  The meditations are published on the BLOG, http://seekingthelifeinchrist.blogspot.com/ and they are also distributed on the Constant Contact email server. You may subscribe to this email service by sending an email to: amkrom812@gmail.com. The BLOG is also available on Amazon Kindle, by subscription.

Publications by Alex M. Knight:

·        Seeking the Life in Christ, Meditations on the New Testament and Psalms has been published and is now available at Amazon.com in paperback and Kindle.

·        The second edition of First Think – Then Pray is available on Amazon Kindle.

·        Meditations on The Story of My Life as told by Jesus Christ has been released as an e-book on Amazon Kindle.

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2007. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188.