I am so excited about my morning coffee today – yes, both what is in the cup and what is in the Word! This morning I read through the first chapter of Colossians again. Today we are going to see how Paul wrapped it all up and tied it in a bow

For God in all his fullness was pleased to live in Christ, and through him God reconciled everything to himself. He made peace with everything in heaven and on earth by means of Christ’s blood on the cross.

THIS INCLUDES YOU who were once far away from God. You were his enemies, separated from him by your evil thoughts and actions. Yet now he has reconciled you to himself through the death of Christ in his physical body. As a result, he has brought you into his own presence, and you are holy and blameless as you stand before him without a single fault. – Colossians 1:19-22 (NLT)

Just as it was the fullness of the presence of God living in Christ as He surrendered Himself on the cross, so God brings US into His presence and strengthens US as we surrender our sovereignty and let Jesus be King. He gives us the strength to do what He has asked us to do – what kind of King does that?!!

God equips us with all His glorious power so that we will have the endurance and patience we need:
We also pray that you will be strengthened with all his glorious power so you will have all the endurance and patience you need. – Colossians 1:11

And He equips us with wisdom so that we can live the kind of holy life that produces every kind of good fruit:
So we have not stopped praying for you since we first heard about you. We ask God to give you complete knowledge of his will and to give you spiritual wisdom and understanding. Then the way you live will always honor and please the Lord, and your lives will produce every kind of good fruit. All the while, you will grow as you learn to know God better and better. – Colossians 1:9-10

This brings us to the next point:

There is no POWER without PRESENCE

And this is the secret: Christ lives in you. This gives you assurance of sharing his glory. So we tell others about Christ, warning everyone and teaching everyone with all the wisdom God has given us. We want to present them to God, perfect in their relationship to Christ. That’s why I work and struggle so hard, depending on Christ’s mighty power that works within me. – Colossians 1:27b-29 (NLT)

It is in God’s presence that He makes known “the glorious riches of this mystery, which is CHRIST IN YOU, the hope of glory” (v.27 NIV). It is our union with Christ, our intimate walk that gives us hope – hope for us and for those watching us.

So the secret of the mystery is to allow God to bring us into His presence and then remain there, allowing God to fill us so that He can work through us. It is in the “remaining” that we continue in our faith and produce a life that is worthy of the Lord and pleasing to Him in every way. He rescued us from darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves. Let’s surrender and rest in His presence, positioning ourselves to receive the fulfillment of all of His promises.

Thank you, God, for Your presence and the power that comes from You and You alone. Amen.

As I mentioned Tuesday, we cannot earn our way into Heaven – the fruit of our lives needs to be a natural outflow of God’s presence in our lives so that He gets the glory. In the same way, holiness doesn’t have to be something we strive for or try harder to obtain, but instead a result of God’s work in our hearts. Every good and wonderful thing in our lives comes from God. It goes back to the source of our salvation, which is where our third statement from Scott’s sermon took us yesterday.

Confession time! When I first heard this point, I immediately thought, “Oh yes, in order to experience salvation I have to surrender my life to God.” And there’s nothing wrong with that thought except that once again I made it about me. It’s not all about me – something I have to often remind myself. The surrender Paul is talking about here begins with Christ’s surrender. Let’s look further at Colossians 1 but this time in The Message:

We look at this Son and see the God who cannot be seen. We look at this Son and see God’s original purpose in everything created. For everything, absolutely everything, above and below, visible and invisible, rank after rank after rank of angels – everything got started in him and finds its purpose in him. He was there before any of it came into existence and holds it all together right up to this moment…

You yourselves are a case study of what he does. At one time you all had your backs turned to God, thinking rebellious thoughts of him, giving him trouble every chance you got. But now, by giving himself completely at the cross, actually dying for you, Christ brought you over to God’s side and put your lives together, whole and holy in his presence. You don’t walk away from a gift like that! You stay grounded and steady in that bond of trust, constantly tuned in to the Message, careful not to be distracted or diverted (1:15-17,21-23a).

Christ gave himself COMPLETELY at the cross – He surrendered so that we could be reconciled to God. This brings us to the fourth point:

There is no REDEMPTION without RECONCILIATION

Christ “rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins” (1:14). Without this surrender, there would be no salvation, no forgiveness of sins. Jesus’ selfless act of sacrifice on the cross gives us the opportunity to be reconciled with our Creator – to the place where we started and can now find our purpose. By dying on the cross, Jesus brought us over to God’s side and put our lives together, making us whole and holy in his presence. What a gift!

And now let’s go back to making it about us, because we have a decision to make. Are we going to accept that gift? Are we going to surrender to our own plans and purpose, or accept the gift of redemption and allow God sovereignty in our lives? That means God gets to be in charge and we submit to His purpose for our lives – for our day.

Dear Jesus, thank you for loving me enough to surrender your life on the cross so that I could have an intimate walk with God – so that I could be reconciled to the One who created me and to His purposes. Thank you for bringing me from darkness into the light. I choose to start my day by submitting to your will, to your plan for my life. Please continue to do a work in my heart today. Help me to stay grounded and steady by trusting in You. Amen.

For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy. – Colossians 1:14-18

So Jesus is my Savior in whom I have redemption, He is my creator in whom I have purpose and He is the one thing in my life that holds everything together, that makes sense of all the pieces of my life. The question for me today as I drink my morning coffee is whether or not He is my King.

There is no SALVATION without SURRENDER.

It is no secret to those who know me well that I like to be in charge. You would have to ask my parents if I was born that way but I remember this strong desire to be the one making the decisions even as a child. One of my most humbling experiences was when I was in the fifth or sixth grade. I must have been offering too many “suggestions” in the children’s choir at church because the Director turned to me and asked me if I wanted to run practice for her. Unaware of her frustrations, I accepted her invitation, which sent her running out of the room in tears. That’s when I understood what she really meant – poor Miss Lucy.

That desire for control that runs deep within me is something God can and does use in my life, but first I have to surrender to His control. Daily I have to submit to the supremacy of Christ and surrender Lordship to Him. I don’t get to be in charge of my life – He does. When He asked me to go back to work 2 ½ years before Brooke started Kindergarten, I had to surrender my plans to be a stay at home mom. When he asked us to move to Texas, I had to surrender my career plans and my future to Him. When he asked us to move back to Illinois, I had to trust that He knew what was best for my daughters even though it hurt to watch them say goodbye to their friends.

It is in these moments of surrender that I find peace. I know I am in good hands when it is God making the decisions. If I truly want to save my life, I must lose it – I must surrender. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will save it- Luke 9:24.

Once again, I reread through the book of James to see what he would say about this concept of surrender. I was not disappointed but again reminded what it looks like to draw near to God: Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. Come near to God and he will come near to you … Humble yourselves before the Lord and he will lift you up – James 4:7-8a, 10.

It is only in those moments of complete surrender that I truly experience salvation. God saves me from my sins and He saves me from myself. Ever felt that way?