In the last few weeks we have been thinking about our identity. Where we have been, how we look at our experiences, how to approach it, and where it will lead us in the future. If we cannot grasp our identity, we will get stuck in the future. The truth of our identity in Christ will lead us, but without it we will get caught up in whatever the world might hand us.
Paul was praying for the church in Colossi to follow God’s will.
We can accomplish this in two ways. First with wisdom. Wisdom is knowledge in action. The second is to being attached to truth. Truth of God’s righteousness, and truth in right and wrong decisions.
If we stop to look at what Paul is asking in these two verses, he is praying to be filled with God’s wisdom and truth. Why? So that we will bear fruit and grow. If we are not seeking God in this way, we will stop bearing fruit. Instead sin will set in and struggle will follow.
When Paul says you will be strengthened, it is a momentary event. That as we grow, God will give us strength when we need it, as we need it, and as much as we need it. We are to yield and be his so He can help us grow in Him.
Through the grace and salvation provided by Jesus, we are fit to be His. Who are we? We are God’s. God has qualified us to live in His inheritance. We are children in His house. We don’t have to jump through some sort of hoops setup or wear some sort of spiritual clothes.
We are either in one of two camps, the dominion of darkness or the kingdom of the Son. And once we accept our identity in Christ, we are fully qualified to be in the kingdom of the Son, period!
There are two ideas being conveyed in these verses. First being an heir or God, and secondly the conduit of what God has for us is in the person of Jesus. God loves us so much that he sent His son, Jesus, to die for our sin so that we can live as children, as heirs, of God. Unfathomable forgiveness.
Once we are in this place that God wants us to be, we will praise God and proclaim this salvation! We make it an expression of our lives. As we move forward, we need to make that our operating procedure. We don’t need to get to some arbitrary level, or take some test, but we only need to be his, grow in wisdom and truth, and praise the salvation given through Jesus.
Maybe these are verses you have written down and carry with you. When we are in the midst of life, to know that we are fully qualified to inherit the kingdom of the Son.
9 And so, from the day we heard, we have not ceased to pray for you, asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, (ESV)
10 so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God. (ESV)
11 May you be strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy, 12 giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in light. (ESV)
12 giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in light. (ESV)
13 He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, (ESV)
9 But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. (ESV)