October 2023
Put On Christ
At the heart of these verses is the command to put off the old self and to put on the new. That sort of talk from Paul raises questions in my mind. Like, how would one do that precisely? And, why does Paul use the analogy of putting on new clothes to describe our transformation […]
Things Above
I remember a time when Sarah and I moved out of a crummy apartment and into a better one. While we were living in the old apartment, we had been full of energy, ideas and enthusiasm to improve the place, but once the decision had been made (or even nearly made) to move into a […]
September 2023
The Siren Song of False Teaching
In ancient Greek and Roman mythology, the sirens were creatures who would sing in such an alluring way that sailors would be lured in and become shipwrecked on the rocks. In Homer’s Iliad, Odysseus saved his ship and crew by plugging his sailors’ ears with beeswax and giving instructions for them to tie him securely […]
Learning to Walk
The Colossian church to whom Paul wrote the letter that we find in our New Testaments would have been comprised almost entirely of new believers. Most of them were likely recent gentile converts who were probably not even very familiar with the Old Testament scriptures of Judaism. In the language of Colossians 2:6, they had […]
Christ’s Afflictions
During my recent vacation I read through the book of Colossians in my personal devotions. On July 31, I made the following entry in a journal of sorts that I keep, “This morning I spent time with God in Colossians. I struggled to concentrate though. I had to read portions over and over again because […]
August 2023
Thoughts To Make Your Heart Sing
The portion of scripture that we’ll be studying, Colossians 1:15-23, contains lyrics (verses 15-20) from what was probably an early hymn of the church. Peppered throughout the New Testament we find fragmentary evidence of the church’s earliest hymns. John 1:1-5, Philippians 2:6-11, Ephesians 2:14-16, 1 Timothy 3:16, 2 Timothy 2:11-13, Hebrews 1:3, and 1 Peter […]
Colossians
Unlike Corinth, Thessalonica, Rome, Phillipi or Ephesus which were large cities, Colossae was a small town. By the time Paul wrote his letter to the church in Colossae during the first century AD, the town had become a small and insignificant place located on the road between larger population centers. Today Colossae exists only as a heap of ruins near the modern-day Turkish town […]
Living On Purpose
The average person will spend 90,000 hours at work over a lifetime according to Andrew Naber, (industrial-organizational psychologist and data scientist). That is roughly 10.3 years. Greg Moody shared with us a couple weeks ago that the jobs we work and businesses of our employ, have a mission statement that directs the efforts of its […]
Carrying The Family Name
From a historic perspective it’s fascinating to think of ourselves as the people of time who are between Christ’s first coming and his second. When we read through the Bible from a top down perspective we see that God has been at work through the ages and eras of time. From the great flood, to […]
July 2023
Our Christian Walk
Paul’s letter to the Ephesians has always been a popular one for believers. It offered to the early Christians necessary guidance on Christian thought and devotion. We continue to need truth about the role of grace and unity, devotion and daily living in a culture that would try to disable our commitment to Kingdom principles. […]
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