The Best of All Possible News

I often think about how much we undersell the gospel. Not as we share it with others (though we undersell it then too), but as we live our own lives. Colossians is a wonderful corrective to our puny thinking.

Read through today's passage again, slowly, and take in what it says about who Jesus Christ is and who we are because of what he has done for us.

We were dead in our sins, and he has made us alive, forgiven and acquitted. He has stripped of its power everything that tries to dominate us. The spiritual forces of evil are formidable. We underestimate them too. You can read about this in Ephesians 6:10-17, which is a good passage to read alongside these verses in Colossians. Colossians talks about "stripping off," Ephesians of "putting on," both words playing with the metaphor of getting dressed and undressed.

There is nothing beyond God's reach or his power. Like the captives paraded in a Roman triumph, he puts these tyrants of evil on display, defeated.

Jesus Christ is God himself. We are "in him," a favourite phrase of Paul's. Think about that.

Who among us doesn't struggle with something in our lives? Depression, grief, pain, a besetting sin, guilt, loneliness, exhaustion, financial troubles, family problems . . . ? These things seem never to go away.

Try reframing your difficulties in the light of today's passage. Even our suffering has a place in God's purposes (see Romans 8:17-18).

And live today with joy.

Respond in Prayer

Lord Jesus Christ, even death couldn’t stop or hold you. You turned a disaster into a coronation and martyrdom into a triumph. Your light is greater than the darkness. Thank you for dealing with sin and all the spiritual powers of evil. Surely you are the Son of God! Amen.

Rob Cornish

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version® (NIV®).