They may be closer than you think.
Photo by Rod Long on Unsplash
“Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of your evil behavior. But 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 – if you continue in your faith, established and firm, and do not move from the hope held out in the gospel…” (Colossians 1:21-23, NIV)
The enemy within
The Holy Scriptures hold some pretty difficult truths. Such is the case with the above passage from the Bible. Paul writes to the Church at Colossae, “Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of your evil behavior” (Colossians 1:21, NIV). I recognize that I don’t always live up to God’s perfect standards, but for Paul to say that I am, or at least was, an enemy of God cuts me to my very core. Chief of sinners though I be, someone else is surely worse than me!
God has set the bar of righteousness pretty high, and, when compared to His perfection, I fall desperately short. I cannot fully keep His commands to love Him with my entire heart and to love others just as I love myself. So, just how do I, filled with all of my flaws and failures, enter into a relationship with a God who is pure, holy, and just?
I have a friend in Jesus
“…now (God) has reconciled (me) by Christ’s physical body through death to present (me) holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation…” (Colossians 1:22, NIV). I have a friend who resides in high places. What I couldn’t do on my own in keeping God’s commands, Christ did perfectly for me. He even went so far as to die on a Roman cross to win for me the forgiveness of all of my sins.
I am, therefore, holy before God my Father. This is the gospel message of God’s love for me in Christ Jesus. May I share this good news with everyone I know!
Pray
Dear Jesus, thank you for dying for me so that I can live forever in heaven with you. Thank you for being my friend. In you holy name I pray, Amen.
Chuck Kralik, Author 