Have you ever felt inadequate? Have
you ever had the experience with friends or even church people that
you just didn't measure up to what they considered Holy. I have –
quite regularly. I have found that there really are two parts to
this. The first is listening to them in a way that you take it
personally, and secondly allowing yourself to question what you know.
I know Jesus came so that I can have a relationship with God. I
know that I am loved just as I am, but somehow I am still trying to
measure up. To what? Good question. My expectations, their
expectations, what I think they are expecting, to the invisible and
unspoken rules I seem to understand, or just what I think I should be
doing - which usually includes a perfection I will never obtain here
because it leaves no room for my humanity.
The Writer of Colossians is writing to
a community of believers who are being told that they are not holy
enough. They aren't doing the right things and that they will never
be as Holy as them if they don't have certain experiences. This is
the letter of response.
The writer of Colossians tells us to
put the brakes on it. To stop trying to achieve human goals and
remember who and whose we are. In verse 6 we hear “Since you have
accepted Christ Jesus as Lord, live in union with him.” We are
reminded that all we need to do is to accept Christ and then to allow
him to work. How do we do that you ask? “Keep your roots deep in
him, build your lives on him, and become stronger in your faith, as
you were taught, and be filled with thanksgiving.” There is
something about roots you need to know – they not only spread deep,
but wide, they are bigger than the plant often and support it despite
what it faces above ground. How do we do this, by building our lives
after Jesus, by praying, fasting, listening, spending time in
community with others, doing good to all, studying scriptures,
worshiping and participating in Holy Communion as well as being
Thankful.
Funny thing that thankfulness thing is.
Sometimes I think that is in there not because we need to be polite
and thank God, but because the very act reminds us of how blessed we
are. By being thankful you give yourself time to recap the day not
as what you missed, not as how inadequate you are, but completely
focusing on God and his movements in our lives. Thankfulness is
powerful and sometimes something we forget. When things are going
well why do we need to think about it. The thing is if we practice
it all the time, then we can find the blessings in our lives when
things aren't going so well. This takes us out of the blame game and
expectation picture and just reflects the glory of God. How often do
you do this? I don't do it enough.
I love verse 8 where the author reminds
us “See to it then that no one enslaves you by means of the
worthless deceit of human wisdom, which comes from the teachings
handed down by men and from the ruling spirits of the universe and
not from Christ.” This is the moment when your best friend grabs
you by the shoulders and gives you a reality check - “Dude don't
let them tell you your worth, when you know that God finds you worthy
of his love”. This is the moment when you get shaken awake from
the entanglement. This is the death that is caused by the world, and
how the world runs itself. Too often we forget just as the author
tells us that we are baptized into Christ death and raised from that
into new life. When we are baptized we no longer have to be held by
those demands. We do not have to live up to anyone's expectations,
just be a vessel for God to work in. We are a new being in that we
no longer have to be trapped by anyone else's expectations. We are
free, nothing separates us from God now but us. We are the only
things that can stand between us and God. That is the beauty of
Christ.
The author goes on to remind us that
when someone is judging us in verse 18 then they have puffed
themselves up and forgotten Christ. I think we do this when we judge
ourselves at times as well. There is a difference between seeing our
own flaws and asking God for help and holding ourselves up to
expectations that we can't meet without Christ.
In verse 19 We hear, “Under Christ's
control the whole body is nourished and held together by its joints
and ligaments, and it grows as God wants it to grow.” Notice that
it does not grow as the body thinks it should. It does not become
with out God and so it can not evolve without God, yet this is
clearly telling us that it does evolve and that God is in charge. If
God is in charge do we really need to try to be in absolute control
of things? What about when we forget to do those spiritual practices
that give us roots? Then what - we forget to be the body and
perhaps it is one of those pruning moments we face so often that has
to happen.
We often sit in judgment of so many
things, but in Colossians we are simply told to live into our
baptism, to make space for God and watch what God can do. So how are
you living into your baptism? How are you letting God help free you
from the slavery of our human expectations, or the expectations the
World places on you by media, social networks, and/or work? What
are you doing to Grow space for God to work in your life? How do you
see God growing the Body? Where are you on remembering the
thanksgiving piece of this? How thankful are you?
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