Colossians 3:12-17
There has literally not been an opportunity to continue our search for the beauty of Christ since the last post. I finally, at least for the moment, have a bit of solitude in the office to record some thoughts. I pray that you, too, have continued at least to think about the beauty of Christ that flows from a captured heart and not from legalistic duty. Christ is all.
When Christ is all--when Jesus has our hearts--everything changes. The evidence that Christ is all is every crevice of our lives being affected. The earthly things die (vs. 5) and the heavenly things radiate. Humility, meekness, patience, forgiveness, love, peace, thankfulness, mutual submission, mutual accountability--just to name a few. And those things are not done begrundingly--they are automatic when Christ has our heart. They are not things to work on and try harder at; they are the evidence that Christ is all.
Lately, I have found myself thinking about my responses and reactions. Don't get me wrong--I fail very much; more than I'll ever admit to you--but, I would like to think that God is really teaching me to relinquish everything to Him so that He is all. I really want Christ to be my all. The way I react to (or yell at) my kids. The way I touch (or take for granted) my wife. The way I listen to and dialogue with (or dictate to) my congregation. The true, honorable, just, pure, lovely, commendable, excellent, and praiseworthy things (or ugly, disgusting, impure, unjust things) I think on. Is Christ all or not?
You see, I can keep my little list of do's and don'ts and put on a pretty good show for those around me. I can fool them into thinking that I am quite righteous. But that's not what God looks at. God looks at the heart. Is Christ all or not?
The beauty of Christ is that He is more than sufficient enough to be our all. It's not like we're choosing between some small choice against some other small choice. We are choosing between finding satisfaction in something that is not fully satisfying, and finding satisfaction in something that is fully satisfying--the beauty of Christ. He is fully able to be our all--in every area of our life. And that is the abundant, Kingdom life; that is the opposite of the legalistic, religious life.
Tomorrow, Paul will start meddling and helping us see that everything must be affected--taken over--by Christ. But, it ought to be enough for him to simply say: And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him.
