A Word from Colossians 1

This will probably sound like an odd question to ask on a Monday morning. But “What Kingdom will you be living in today?” Will you be living in “The Kingdom of Responsibility,” with your mind focused on all the stuff you need to do? Will you be living in “The Kingdom of Anxiety,” with your heart burdened about all the challenges you face? Or might you be living today in “The Kingdom of Survival,” in which your main concern is just making it through the next 24 hours?

Well, I ask that question because today’s word from Colossians Chapter 1 has something important to say about the kingdom in which we should be living. Our Heavenly Father, Paul says, “has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son He loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins” (1:13-14). You see, even though you might have to deal with a variety of kingdoms today, none of them are your true home. Because the grace of Jesus has made you a citizen of the Kingdom of Heaven.

And because you’re been “naturalized” into that kingdom, a new of life is available to you, which Paul describes like this. You can “live a life worthy of the Lord and please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, and giving joyful thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of his holy people in the kingdom of light” (1:10-12).

So today, let’s remember our true country! And let’s live as those whose joy in (and whose allegiance to) the kingdom of God makes others long for their true country, too. Amen.