Colossians 1:23b – The Map

[If] … you continue in your faith …

Summary: How should we describe faith? In these days of computers following a map is much different than it used to be. Yet the principles are the same. “Do we trust the map?,” or “Do we trust the computer?,” are both basically the same question.

Paul begins verse twenty-three with “if,” and then adds three conditions:

•   If you … continue in your faith.
•   If you are … established and firm.
•   If you … do not move from the hope held out in the gospel. 

The context of this verse is rather stark. Paul begins by reminding us that we were God’s enemies. Then he shares the essence of the Gospel message: We have been reconciled with God through Jesus’ death on the cross.

Finally, he says we are presented holy in God’s sight … if … we continue in our faith.

On the face of it, Paul’s statement makes sense.

Suppose we were lost in the woods. After hiking for days, we come across a cabin where we can ask for directions. The person in the cabin gives us a map. If we follow the map, it will lead us through the forest back to civilization.

The wilderness we are in is a big one. If we don’t get to civilization, we will very likely die. Getting home is very important.

Halfway through the forest, we come to an Obstacle not shown on the map. The path is clearly marked on the map, but we have to go to the other side of the Obstacle if we are to follow the map. Going the other direction is a path through the woods. It looks like an easy trail to follow, but it doesn’t follow the map.

What do we do?

Should we take the easy trail or try and find a way about the Obstacle?

(Spoiler alert! The easy trail leads to death, but we don’t know that at the time. Getting around the Obstacle will be hard, but we have to do it to follow the map.)

Faith is like following the map. If we want to get home, we have to follow the path laid out for us. We have to continue in our faith.

Paul has given us a map to following Jesus. Our faith walk is different than following the laws of the Old Covenant. Instead of “do’s and do not’s,” we have Jesus, our living Shepherd.

Application: Follow Jesus!

Food for Thought: What is it like to follow Jesus each day?

Please click ‘’Continue Reading” for comments.

Continue reading “Colossians 1:23b – The Map”

Hyperopia – 2 Samuel 19: 6a

Optometrist equipment

You love those who hate you and hate those who love you.

Today’s passage is a bit odd for a theme verse. Joab, the king’s commander of the army, has just killed Absalom and saved the kingdom for David. Instead of thanks and praise, David rewards him with recriminations. Here is the passage in context:

Then Joab went into the house to the king and said, ‘Today you have humiliated all your men, who have just saved your life and the lives of your sons and daughters and the lives of your wives and concubines. You love those who hate you and hate those who love you. You have made it clear today that the commanders and their men mean nothing to you. I see that you would be pleased if Absalom were alive today and all of us were dead. Now go out and encourage your men. I swear by the Lord that if you don’t go out, not a man will be left with you by nightfall. This will be worse for you than all the calamities that have come on you from your youth till now.’”

— 2 Samuel 19:5-7

For the most part, David lived a noble life. He was courageous before his enemies, and faithful to God, even to the point of respecting the life of the man who was bent on killing him, King Saul. It was only when he had achieved relative peace and had been established as king over Israel that the wheels started to come off.

Continue reading “Hyperopia – 2 Samuel 19: 6a”

Wisdom Wednesday – Paths

Trust in the Lord with all your heart
    and lean not on your own understanding;
 
in all your ways submit to him,
    and he will make your paths straight.

— Proverbs 3: 5-6

So what is the big deal about traveling a straight path?

It depends on what you want, I suppose. Depending on where you are in life, look back on where you have been. Are you one of those people who seemed to know where they were going and walked straight towards their goal? Or are you one of those people, like me, who meandered a bit along life’s trail?

While exploring on our own can be fun, there are dangers along the trail. Like the little lost lamb, we might find ourselves stuck in a briar patch or the bottom of a ravine with a broken leg. Dangers and dead ends waste time and might keep us from getting where we are going.

And where are we going again? We are going to be with our Father in heaven. That is our goal. That is our hope.

Continue reading “Wisdom Wednesday – Paths”