Seeking Pearls

In the last chapter of his letter to the Colossians, Paul beseeches them to pray. He asks them to pray for one another, to be watchful and thankful in prayer, and to pray for him. For his safety, we might ask? No. He wants them to pray that while he is in prison, they would pray that he would share the Gospel clearly and fearlessly. 

They do and he does. 

May we live fearlessly too for the sake of the Gospel. May we wrestle in prayer like Paul and Epaphras did, and may the results of that prayer be radical disciples of Jesus who live fearlessly for Him. 

Amen and Amen. 

In the second half of the third chapter of Colossians, Paul instructs the people of Colossae on how to live like Jesus. They've learned about the cross of Christ, they've received a detailed theology on who Jesus is, they've been instructed to get rid of all leftover sin habits entangling them. Now...live like this. This is how we do it.

In chapter 3 of Colossians Paul teaches what it means to belong to Christ. He alone is true life. He alone is the place on which we should set our hearts and minds. The life that is truly life is found in Him alone, and as believers we have full access to that life. Therefore, let us let go of the sin habits that cling to us and that we so tightly cling to. Let's set our minds on Christ and grow in His image.

Paul gets into the deep details of the Cross in this section of Colossians. What does it mean that we have been circumcised in Christ? What is circumcision of the heart? When was I baptized into the death of Christ? When was the charge against me cancelled? And who are the authorities that Jesus put to shame through His death on the cross? And most of all, what does this all have to do with my freedom in Christ???

Everything! Paul dives in deep...let's dive in also.

What treasure are you seeking? If we are honest with ourselves, we will have to admit that all of us set our heart on something or someone. If we don't set it on Jesus, we will most certainly set it elsewhere.

In Colossians 2:1-8, the Apostle Paul declares that Jesus is not only the great mystery of God, but also the great treasure of mankind. All the treasures of wisdom and knowledge - unfathomable riches - are found in Christ alone. Let us seek Him.

In the latter half of Colossians 1, Paul writes a glorious description of Jesus...the King of the Kingdom into which we have been transferred. Jesus is the perfect and total representation of God, He is the One through whom the universe was made, He comes before everything, has superiority in everything, and is the eternal glue that holds all things together. He is everything. And, as we find out, He is also the mystery of God that was hidden for ages past but is now revealed for the world to know. What a mystery!

Paul's letter to the church in Colossae is filled with tremendous truths for you and I, even two thousand years after it was penned. To a city that was filled with competing philosophies and a conglomeration of gods to be worshiped, Paul wrote with remarkable clarity about the unique sovereignty of the Jesus Christ and His Lordship over all creation. Jesus is the treasure for which every human heart was created to seek.