Putting Jesus First: Five Days in ColossiansSample

Remember the Hope of the Gospel

Paul wraps up his prayer by reminding the Colossians, and us, who we once were apart from Christ and who we are now. As former unbelievers, those not in Christ, we were once alienated and at odds with God and our spiritual family. We were hostile in our ways and in our minds. Such was true of us before we trusted in Christ. As Romans 3:23 says, we all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God, owing the greatest debt we could never pay for on our own. But in our hostile and indebted position, something happened to us. Someone laid down His body of flesh in death, so that we might be reconciled back to the Father we were at odds with.

Because of what Jesus has done for you through His death and resurrection, He has canceled the massive debt of sin that stood against you. He has eliminated every barrier that put you at odds with God. In Christ, you now stand before God as blameless, holy, and righteous. Not because of anything you did to earn it, but because of what Christ has accomplished for you on the cross. And you and I must stay rooted in the faith, remembering this to be our story. We must not forget such good news. We must cling to it.

See, it is only through Christ—His sinless life, death on the cross to pay for our sin, and His resurrection—that we receive the forgiveness from God we could have never received on our own. There is nothing we can do or merit to ourselves in order to have the assurance of a saving faith. But in Christ and what He has done, we can have full assurance of our forgiveness before a holy God. We can now draw near to God with confidence because of Christ’s sacrifice He made once for all (Heb. 10:10, 19–25). This is the glorious good news of the gospel.

But for the Colossians, the temptation is strong to forget this good news of the God who became man to die for the sins of sinners. Paul knows that surrounding heresy is sprouting up like weeds among the Colossians and reminds them to see the weeds for what they are in the beautiful garden God is sowing. He does not want them, or us, to be uprooted away from the gospel that they have already heard and received: the living hope of the good news of Jesus that has been announced to all creation under heaven. It’s as if Paul is saying, “Don’t forget! Remember what happened to you. Don’t forget what Christ did to make you new. Don’t let any other lie creep in and tell you otherwise! You’ve heard it proclaimed, you’ve received it as your own, you’ve held to it up till now. Don’t shift from it in the days ahead! This is who you are—reconciled and blameless. All because of Christ.” What other news is better than this? None! Hold firm to the gospel, friend. It’s truly the best news in the world.

Thank you for reading!

Thank you for joining us on this reading plan as we journeyed through part of the first chapter of Colossians together! This reading plan was curated from Putting Jesus First, A 21-Day Devotional Journey through Colossians, by Courtney Tracy. Click here to learn more about the book and order your copy.