The message
of the apostle was clear. It’s the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the Lord who dwells
in every believer, bringing the assurance of ultimate glory. This very Lord was
the focal point of Paul’s message (and should be ours too). He made Him the
content of his proclamation. The two proven means Paul used to disseminate this
message were: admonishing and teaching.
To admonish is
to reprove, rebuke, warn, caution or even counsel. To teach is to impart,
explain, clarify, and demonstrate. Each of these varied ways could be deployed at
different times in different situations to different levels depending on the
maturity of the audience. But here with the Colossians he saw himself as a
father reproving and counseling his children and then explaining, clarifying the
misconception they had about Christ. Furthermore, he did it discerningly and with
all the wisdom granted by God. His whole goal was to ensure that these
believers in Colossae whom he was ministering to, would be presented mature and
complete in Christ.
To this end,
Paul put in all the effort and work intensively, collaborating with God’s power
and supernatural enabling that had first brought mighty outcomes in his life. What
he meant was, the powerful message he proclaimed had been proven by the mighty
outcomes he himself had experienced personally.
The content of our life should always bear
this message, that Jesus Christ is our hope of glory. To share it effectively, we
must first experience its present effect in our life. Without a doubt, it will
work mightily according to the power of the resurrected Christ within us. A
consecrated life will yield concrete results. Remember, an unexamined faith is
not worth believing and an untested life is not worth
living!
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