Knowing Jesus

“Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God.” Colossians 3:16

I was struck by this verse in the passed week and it has had me thinking. That ever happen to you? You’re reading and it seems as if God says, “Hey you! Stop right there. Go chew on that for a while.” Well, that’s where I landed and God brought to my attention how much His word is not stored up in my heart. The Apostle Paul says here to allow the very words of Jesus (that’s the whole Bible, by the way, not just the stuff in red) to fill every room in the house of your life. That may be a different way to look at it, but I think it’s accurate.

Why? What’s the point, you might ask. Well, he goes on to say that by doing so you’ll be able teach and warn others, and it won’t be just your opinion or advice, but it will be wisdom- the God kind. In the next verse, he basically says, whatever you do, do it for Jesus while giving thanks to God. I don’t know about you, but it doesn’t take me very long to realize I say some pretty stupid stuff sometimes (not wise), and I go through motions without a thought to the actual person of Jesus. I also don’t run around thankful all the time. Reality is, that’s reality. But, God doesn’t leave you or me to stay as we are; He wants to grow us to be more like His Son.

I’m learning more that when I say and when I hear others say, “You need to read your Bible more,” what we ought to mean by that is we desperately need to know Jesus better. It is very possible to know tons of Bible and not know Jesus at all. How do we know Him better? By giving opportunity for “the word of Christ dwell in [us] richly.” By feasting, munching, and really giving thought to the word of God, and putting it to work. That’s opposed to mindlessly reading it to get it done because we’ve been taught it’s important. By that, we’ll be better equipped to reach others for Jesus and even enjoy it. Sound familiar? How else do we find ourselves singing from a heart swelling with gratitude (Col. 3:16)? We don’t.

Pastor Michael