Scripture Reading(s)
Colossians 1:11-20
1:11 May you be made strong with all the strength that comes from his glorious power, and may you be prepared to endure everything with patience, while joyfully
1:12 giving thanks to the Father, who has enabled you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the light.
1:13 He has rescued us from the power of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of his beloved Son,
1:14 in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.
1:15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation;
1:16 for in him all things in heaven and on earth were created, things visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or powers–all things have been created through him and for him.
1:17 He himself is before all things, and in him all things hold together.
1:18 He is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that he might come to have first place in everything.
1:19 For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell,
1:20 and through him God was pleased to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, by making peace through the blood of his cross.
Reflections
We talk sometimes about Jesus providing access to God. However, I think the better way to describe the situation is better described by saying what Paul said,
through him God was pleased to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, by making peace through the blood of his cross.
God had never walled Himself off to His creation but he did have a degree of separation because of their sin. That is why Paul uses the word reconcile. Through Jesus’ sacrifice we are reconciled to God no matter what kinds of sins we’ve committed.
Because of Jesus we ought to approach God with confidence, knowing that our sins have been washes white as snow. They are erased and the Lord does not hold our sins over our heads.
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