Colossians 3:16-17—”Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord. 17 And whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by him.”
In the first three chapters, Paul teaches the Church at Colossae on various topics: the Preeminence of Christ, Paul’s ministry to the Church, to be alive in Christ, to let no one disqualify them and to put on the new self. These teachings apply to us as well.
About putting on a new self: Paul teaches us that since we are born again in Christ we must seek things above and not the worldly things. Having known Christ, we must put to death our earthly selves: earthly wants and desires. After being renewed in the knowledge, in the image of our Creator, we must imitate the character of Jesus so that we can have the peace of Christ to rule our hearts.
The Gospel is the Word of Christ. Many have the Word, but it dwells in them weakly. But, our soul prospers only when we are full of the Scriptures and of the grace of Christ. We must read, meditate, practise and thus allow the Word of God to live in us deeply to direct our steps. We, the Church, can then instruct and direct one another in wisdom. We can give thanks to God with gratitude in our hearts and praise on our lips. Whatever we say, do or work at, must be in the name of Jesus with thanks to God every step of the way. If we do all in Christ’s name, we will never want because of our thanksgiving to God.
Father God, we thank you for Your love for us and for Your Word. Thank you for the instructions on how we are to live so that we can please you with our words and actions. We love you, Father. We thank you for every thing that You have done for us in Your love. We give you all the glory and praise for who we are and for what we do. In Jesus name we pray, Amen.
