Be Rooted in and Built on Christ Jesus
"As you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so continue to live in him.
Keep your roots deep in him and have your lives built on him.
Be strong in the faith, just as you were taught, and always be thankful."
(Colossians 02: 06, 07)
I have met many friends who have the struggle in "continuing" to live in Christ. This struggle is not a strange thing to me. I have been through the same so many times. And, yet, the answer to living without this struggle still remains a mystery. We have all "received" Christ Jesus the Lord with the fullness and assurance of His grace and blessings. But as we pass through each different stages of our life of faith, we meet with the human struggle of continuing to live in the promises of Christ.
Realising the same struggle that believers in Colossae had during the beginning of the growth of their church, the apostle Paul writes down some vital guidelines to overcome this. I feel like meditating on these little but important points today with you. While Paul encourages the Colossians to continue to live in Christ Jesus the Lord as they had received Him, he lays down four important Christian rules that would keep them continuing in faith. And I see that these four vital points could help us to do the same.
Paul, first of all, encourages us to have "our roots" deep in Christ Jesus. It is a reminder that whatever may be the situation, the circumstance, the condition around us, whatever the challenge life may bring upon us, our roots of faith should never loosen up. Our roots should go deeper and spread through the promises and assurance that we have in the Lord Jesus Christ. Our spiritual roots are the ways in which we understand, receive and experience God's love towards us. If our roots are no more connected deep in Christ Jesus, then that's a sign of the failure of our spiritual life of faith, and ultimately our life. To continue strong in faith it is important that our roots remain deep in Christ Jesus.
The second important guideline from Paul is to have our lives "built on Christ Jesus." Having Him as our strong foundation, we are called to continue the act of building. I see this as a continuous process. We are not just called to maintain the walls of life on Him, but to have our selves "built." To remain strong in faith and to continue in our life of faith in Christ, we have to keep building our spiritual life. It must not just remain as it was built at the beginning. Our faith should be a continuous process and we should be actively involved in this act of building. It is only then, the deep roots and the initial foundations on which we started building our walls make meaning in our lives. So let us continue to be busy as we build our walls on Christ Jesus.
As we progress on this, Paul encourages us to be "strong in faith." Let our faith be immovable by anything that may surround us. At any cost, our faith should remain strong. Our love for Christ and the assurance that we have in His name should never run low. We find the assurance of the love of Christ in Paul's letter to Romans, chapter 8 verse 35, where he writes "Can anything separate us from the love Christ has for us? Can troubles or problems or sufferings or hunger or nakedness or danger or violent death?" This is what Paul means by being strong in faith. Through the worst conditions and the most corrupting manipulations against our faith, we must remain strong in the faith that we have in Christ Jesus our Lord.
And then, in the end, Paul reminds us to "be thankful." This is the forgotten part of continuing to live in our faith. A thankful heart always remembers things that happened in the past. Whenever we are thankful about something, it is an indirect reminder that we value what we had witnessed in the past. It shows that we are able to see the goodness of things we are blessed with. A thankful heart is a sign that we appreciate and honour God for the miraculous ways in which He has been leading us. The more thankful you are, the more the realisation of God's wonderful ways. The more the realisation, the more the continuation of the same. Every time we are thankful we are reminded of the mighty and miraculous Lord in whom we trust. Being thankful reminds us how deep our roots are, how much we have built our lives on Christ and how strong we are remaining in our faith. Let us be thankful.
Today, if you are also a person just like me, finding yourself in the midst of this struggle of continuing your faith in Christ Jesus the Lord, then let these guidelines help you too. Let us be deeply rooted in Christ, build our lives on Him, be strong in our faith and always remember to be thankful. I am sure that these words of life will help us to continue our journey of faith without the momentary struggles of everyday life. Let us continue to live in the Lord. May the blessing of God our Father, the grace and love of Christ Jesus the Son and the presence and guidance of the Holy Spirit be with us and guide us.
May God bless you.
Yours in Christ,
"Build my life" by Passion Music
