No Passive Guest

Day 278: Colossians 1:18-29, 2:1-7

“Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving.” - Colossians 2:6-7 ESV

Like any good host, when Jesus knocks, we need to let Him in (see Revelation 3:20). Yet we are a little caught off guard -- due to the fact that Jesus is no passive guest. We are charged to get busy walking in Him, thus obeying God.

When we decide to let Jesus have His way, He gets after digging footers, causing us to be:

• Rooted >> "to become strengthened" rhizoo

• Built-up >> "to increase the potential of someone" epoikodomeo

• Established >> "to increase inner strength" bebaioo

These three acts of investment cause us to overflow in thanksgiving. In them, we see that God is committed to seeing us succeed as we place our trust in Jesus. We are not left to fend for ourselves. Jesus is always after faithfulness, and He knows this will only take place as we let Him do His thing.

Next step?

Help others to hear the knocking of Jesus, encouraging them to let him in for some rearranging as well.

C.S. Lewis drives this whole idea home: "Imagine yourself as a living house. God comes in to rebuild that house. At first, perhaps, you can understand what He is doing. He is getting the drains right and stopping the leaks in the roof and so on; you knew that those jobs needed doing and so you are not surprised. But presently He starts knocking the house about in a way that hurts abominably and does not seem to make any sense. What on earth is He up to? The explanation is that He is building quite a different house from the one you thought of - throwing out a new wing here, putting on an extra floor there, running up towers, making courtyards. You thought you were being made into a decent little cottage: but He is building a palace. He intends to come and live in it Himself."