Has God been good to us? Is there more He could be doing? Does it seem that God is holding back from contributing to my life? To be honest we have become a people who assume that the Christian life is all about what we should be getting from God. I ask all of us to please consider what more could He give us when the Bible says, “Ye are complete (whole, full, thorough, perfect) in Him…” Col. 2:10. The “Him” is Jesus and Paul is reminding the saints that in Christ all believers have everything! 

Earlier in chapter 1:12-14, of Colossians, Paul had also reminded the saints of their favored position in Christ with these words, “Giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet to be partakers (participant, member, accessory) of the inheritance (birthright, legacy) of the saints in light: Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated (rendered, transformed, converted) us into the kingdom of His dear Son: In whom we have redemption (salvation, rescue, reclamation) through His blood, even the forgiveness of sins:” I  would suggest that we should ‘rejoice’ over what God has already given us in Christ Jesus. Also, present tense, we are ‘heirs’ (inheritors, recipients, beneficiaries) to the kingdom of God in Christ! (Rom. 8:16-17)

I was thinking of the words found in a song of the past that said, “Who could ask for anything more?” and I suppose the answer is that ‘we’ dare ask for more! But perhaps our problem rest in the fact that we are prone to miss a hallmark characteristic of Christianity and that is the characteristic of the giving of self. Jesus tells us that if we would follow Him we would have to begin by be willing to ‘deny ourselves’, even to the point of ‘personal sacrifice’, to ‘follow Him’. Discipleship is not about ‘getting’ it is about giving. The whole point of Jesus coming to earth was to ‘give Himself’ for the sins of man. I think we can agree that all Jesus received by coming was a ‘hard time’ that eventually led to agonizing death on the cross.

In Romans 12:1 Paul offers an exhortation (appeal, call, urging) to the saints in Rome for ‘personal’ (private, individual, intimate0 sacrifice (surrender, cost, expense). Paul would tell them that this sacrifice would be made possible by the mercy (generosity, kindness, grace) of God. It would involve the giving of their physical abilities, in a Godly manner, which would make the personal sacrifice ‘acceptable’ ( appropriate, adequate, pleasing, gratifying) unto God. Paul’s closing words, in Romans 12:1, we may find somewhat uncomfortable, “which is your ‘reasonable’ (sensible, realistic, wise, levelheaded) ‘service’ (provision, assistance, goodness).

HOPE TO SEE YOU SOON – BRO. ED