Colossians – Welcome

Everything – Colossians 3:12-17

“And whatever you do, in word or in deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him.” — Colossians 3:17 (HCSB)

Paul has already laid out in the earlier part of this chapter what Christians are supposed to put off, the old identity, the old patterns, the old way of living. Now he gets to the other side of that. If you’ve taken off the old stuff, here’s what you put on instead: Compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, patience, forgiveness, and over all of it, love. Love is the thing that holds everything else together and gives it direction, as Paul also makes clear in 1 Corinthians 13.

The opening phrase, “God’s chosen ones,” is one that theologians have argued about for centuries, and honestly it’s easy for me to get stuck in that loop. Calvinist predestination on one side, Arminian free will on the other, and a lot of very smart people who land in very different places. But I think that debate, as interesting as it is, misses the actual point of what Paul is saying here. However these people ended up belonging to God, they do. They are his. They are ingrafted into his family and heirs of the Kingdom. That’s the starting point, and then from that identity, the list of qualities Paul describes should flow naturally.

Which brings everything to verse 17. “Whatever you do, in word or in deed, do it in the name of the Lord, Jesus…” It’s not just the obviously spiritual stuff. Not just Sunday morning or the moments when I’m consciously trying to be a good person. Everything, which includes the conversation at work, the way I drive, how I treat the person who is taking too long in line, or the email I’m a little tempted to send with an edge to it. All of it is supposed to be filtered through the same question, “Is this in the name of Jesus? Would I do this the same way if I was doing it as his representative?”

I’ll fail at this constantly. That’s just honest. But the goal isn’t perfection, it’s direction. Keep pointing toward Christ in every single encounter, ask the Holy Spirit to do what I can’t do on my own, and when I fall short, get back up and keep going. Everything in the name of Jesus. Not just the big moments. Everything.

Reconciled – Colossians 1:15-23

That word, reconciliation, keeps showing up. It’s the same word Paul uses in 2 Corinthians when he talks about being committed to the ministry of reconciliation.

“But now He has reconciled you by His physical body through His death, to present you holy, faultless, and blameless before Him.” — Colossians 1:22 (HCSB)

Paul opens this passage with one of the most theologically loaded descriptions of Jesus in the entire New Testament. Jesus is the image of the invisible God. The firstborn over all creation. The one through whom everything was created visible and invisible, thrones and powers, things in heaven and things on earth. Everything was created through him and for him. And then this line that stops me cold every time…”in him all things hold together.” He didn’t say just spiritual things, or even just religious things. Everything. The whole created order coheres in Christ.

It’s worth sitting and ruminating on that for a minute rather than rushing past it. He’s pointing directly at who Jesus is in the grand sweep of all reality. He is fully God. He is before all things. He is the head of the Church and the firstborn from the dead. This is the kind of passage that probably should be memorized by anyone who takes their faith seriously, because it pretty well encapsulates everything about who Jesus is and what that means for the rest of existence. But, even that all things hold together, not just fly apart into space, because of Jesus.

Then Paul makes it personal. Starting in verse 21, he turns toward us. We were alienated. Enemies of God in our minds. Our behavior reflected that alienation. And then…because of who Jesus is, because of what he did through his physical death on the cross, we have been reconciled. Not improved. Not partially forgiven. Reconciled. Presented before God holy, faultless, and blameless. That’s the thesis of the whole passage sitting right there in verse 22. The gap that existed between us and God has been closed, completely, by Jesus.

That word, reconciliation, keeps showing up. It’s the same word Paul uses in 2 Corinthians when he talks about being committed to the ministry of reconciliation. We have been reconciled to God, and then immediately commissioned to carry that same reconciliation outward in helping bring people back into right relationship with God and with each other. That’s not a secondary calling or an optional add-on to the Christian life. It’s central to everything.

So I need to keep my eyes and ears open to where that is happening around me and join it. People are alienated from God and from each other everywhere we look. The same Jesus through whom all things hold together is also the one who tears down the walls that divide. That’s the work I’m called to participate in. When I actually stop and think about what Christ has done, holding the entire created order together, that God chose to reconcile me to himself through his own death, the only honest response I know is to say “Wow.”

Step Bar Christianity – Colossians 3:1-11

Paul says that in Christ, the old tribal identities are gone too. The things that used to define us, like where we came from, what group we belonged to, what we looked like, where we were born those aren’t the primary things anymore.

Colossians 3:1-11

“Therefore, if you have been raised with Christ, keep seeking the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.” — Colossians 3:1 (HCSB)

It’s Not a Step Bar

I’ve been thinking about adding a step bar to my truck. One of those running boards that makes it easier for people to climb in. It could be a useful addition. But it doesn’t change what my truck is. It doesn’t turn it into a different vehicle. My truck would still be a truck. It would be something bolted on to what was already there. You’d still have the same truck underneath.

Paul is describing something that is the complete opposite of that. He’s not talking about adding Christianity onto your existing life like an accessory. He’s talking about a fundamental change in identity. If you are a follower of Jesus, you died. The old you is gone. What is alive now is something entirely new, raised with Christ, oriented toward completely different things. The list of behaviors he tells us to put away (anger, lies, filthy talk, greed, all of it) aren’t just bad habits to work on. They belong to an identity that no longer exists. We don’t do those things because that’s not who we are anymore.

The last part of the passage is where it gets really interesting. Paul says that in Christ, the old tribal identities are gone too. The things that used to define us, like where we came from, what group we belonged to, what we looked like, where we were born those aren’t the primary things anymore.

I love being an American. I’m genuinely proud of that. But Paul is pretty clear that my identity as a member of Christ’s family overrides that completely. That’s not a comfortable thing to sit with, but it’s what he says. Now, I’m thankful that God has done some really cool things through America, and being an American has some great advantages. I’d sacrifice my life for the freedom that we have here, but that is not where my citizenship actually is. My passport may say America, but my name is in a more important registry, and that should change everything about who I am in every moment.

The big questions in life are actually easier to wrestle with for me. Where should I live? What should I do for work? Those feel weighty, and they are. But Paul isn’t primarily talking about the big decisions. He’s talking about the minute by minute stuff. The way I think. The way I talk. The way I treat the person in front of me right now. That’s where identity actually shows up, not only in the grand gestures but in the thousand small moments that make up a normal day, on whatever continent I happen to be on, in whatever job I happen to be working.

So this week I want to be faithful in the little things. Not just the big calling questions, but the everyday moments where my identity in Christ either shows up or it doesn’t. It’s easy to bolt something on and call it good. What God is after is a new identity that changes everything. Well, everything except the truck. I’m keeping that.

Love – Colossians 3:12–14

Colossians 3:14 (NIV)
“And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.”

Paul’s opening words in this passage carry significant weight. When he refers to believers as “God’s chosen people,” he is intentionally drawing on language that Israel would have immediately recognized as covenant language. This is not a doctrinal statement, but a declaration that all who belong to Christ—Jew and Gentile alike—now stand inside God’s redemptive family. Elsewhere, Paul describes this reality as being grafted in.

From that identity flows a visible way of life. Paul lists qualities that are deeply relational: compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, patience, and forgiveness. These are not personality traits reserved for the naturally agreeable; they are evidence of a life shaped by grace. Jesus himself tied forgiveness directly to love—those who understand how much they have been forgiven are transformed into forgiving people. These virtues are not separate achievements but expressions of a single root.

That is why Paul culminates the list with love. Love is not merely one virtue among many; it is the binding force that gives coherence and unity to them all. Without love, these qualities fragment into moral effort or religious performance. With love, they become a reflection of Christ’s own character. The Christian life, then, is not primarily about self-improvement, but about being steadily reshaped by an ever-deepening awareness of God’s love and forgiveness.

The call of this passage is straightforward but demanding: remain focused on love, and allow everything else to flow from it. As Christ continues his work of transformation, the aim is not to become impressive, but to become more like him.

Put on Love – Colossians 3:12–17

Colossians 3:12 – “Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience.”

This passage reads like straightforward instruction, and in many ways it is. Paul lays out what a life shaped by Christ should look like, not in abstract terms but in everyday behavior. Forgiveness stands at the center of it. Being forgiven by God while refusing to forgive others simply does not fit within the way God works. Love, gratitude, and forgiveness are not optional traits here. They are commanded because they reflect the character of Christ himself.

What strikes me is how closely thankfulness and forgiveness are tied together. People who are thankful tend to be more generous and more patient with others. They are usually easier to be around. I want to be that kind of person. The challenge, of course, is that this is often hardest with the people closest to me. This passage reminds me that Christlike love does not stop at the edges of convenience. If I want to live in a way that reflects Jesus, then forgiveness, gratitude, and love have to show up consistently, especially at home.