Daily Devotion for November 21, 2023

 

Devotion:

For an audio version of this devotion, click here.

Read Colossians 2:6-10.

“So then,” Paul wrote, or in other words, “given all this,” keep growing (v. 6)! The Colossians had received Jesus as Savior, and their rescue into the kingdom of light was indeed a marvelous miracle. Since they had also received Him as Lord, they needed to “continue to live [their] lives in him” on a daily basis. The title “Lord” means that Christ has all authority, and we owe Him our obedience. He has all authority because He’s fully God and fully man, the Creator and sustainer of all things, the Head of the church, the One who rescued us and reconciled us to God and to one another, and the central mystery and treasure in God’s epic plan of redemption.

Paul used three phrases to describe following Christ in this way. The first was an agricultural picture, “rooted and built up in him” (v. 7). Plants without roots wither and die. In the same way, Christ must be our source of life. The second was being “strengthened in the faith” and avoiding “hollow and deceptive philosophy” by means of sound teaching (v. 8). False teaching is human-centered rather than Christ-centered, and results in captivity rather than freedom. The final phrase was “overflowing with thankfulness,” a mirror of Paul’s opening prayer (1:11–12).

Scripture uses tree and plant imagery to describe us as followers and worshipers of God. The righteous are “like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither” (Ps. 1:3). Or they are branches, abiding in the vine, Jesus Christ: “If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit” (John 15:5). When we are rooted in Christ, we will see His fruit in our lives as a testimony to His sustaining work to transform us to be more like Him.

Personal Worship Option:

Heavenly Father, I pray that you will give me the faith and strength to let you be “Lord” of my life today and every day. It is so easy to try to live my life my way, but I want to be rooted, growing and bearing fruit in you.