Colossians
3:16 ~ Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly as you teach and
admonish one another with all wisdom through psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit, singing to God with gratitude
in your hearts.
The message of course means the Word of God, the
Gospel, etc. The truth of Scripture had been infiltrated in Colossae and had
been corrupted by false teachers/teachings, traditions and nonsensical religious
rules. Paul wrote Colossians to set things straight.
It is not the word of false teaching that brings
the Colossians to Christ. It is the word of God or Christ Himself that brings
them to Himself. So too is the effect on us. False teachings and the traditions
of men save no one. It is the Word of God that brings life and maintains it.
1
Peter 1:23-25 “…since you have been born again, not of perishable seed but of
imperishable, through the living and abiding word of God; for “All flesh is like grass and all its glory like the flower
of grass. The grass withers, and the flower falls, but the word of the Lord
remains forever.”
If the word of God has transformed us then it
will most certainly dwell in us richly.
James 1:18 Of his own will he brought us forth by the word of
truth, that we should be a kind of first-fruits of his creatures.
Again we see a Greek word that warrants a closer
look. The word dwell is ἐνοικείτω /enoikeito and means to “feel at home
with.” It also means to intensify. Therefore when seen together the truth is “at
home” in us and by its nature intensifies or increases within us in power and
effect. It can therefore be surmised that if truth is life and there is an overabundance
of God’s truth growing in us…there will be an overflow of life into an
outflowing of the truth…or fruit seen by others. Because what is fruit? It is
an overflow of life from a plant that produces within itself the very thing
needed to create more new life…seeds.
1 John
3:9 No one who is born of God will continue to sin, because God’s seed remains
in them; they cannot go on sinning, because they have been born of God.
We must also understand that Colossians is
an Epistle or a public letter written to a group of people, not an individual.
Paul is telling the entire church at Colossae. He is not telling just
individuals to let the word dwell in them but it can also be interpreted that
Paul wants the word to dwell or find itself at home in the entire community of
believers. Why? The implication is that by all being positively affected by the
word the Spirit will also dwell in unity in the believers and they will all be
of like mind and Spirit. They will dwell in harmony and in unity in Christ.
Ephesians
4:2-3 Be completely
humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. Make
every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. [In
the context of the entire Body of Believers]
Here too we again see the dwelling in peace
of Christ through the Spirit (Colossians 3:15)
Pray
Without Ceasing
When I dwell in the Word and in the mindset
that was mandated and commanded by God I am in the right place. I am
comfortable. It is where I have been commanded to be. This sort of connects to
Paul’s pray without ceasing. Paul’s prayer without ceasing is not necessarily
“prayer” as we understand it but keeping God at the forefront of things. That
is what I believe goes on here when we are not literally praying but dwelling
in Him and He in us. I’d say that it is a symbiotic relationship but it’s not,
God does not need us. It is a dependent relationship, we need Him.
I pray to maintain a desire for God. Praying
this desire to God is not hard for me. The pursuit is within me. I believe it
is driven by the Holy Spirit. A spiritual man is driven by the Spirit to
spiritual matters. Of like to like. God already knows the desires of my heart
but He has commanded me to pray anyway for my own good. God already knows how
things will be and how they will turn out. I am not so much praying so things
will be different so much as I am praying to keep myself aligned to Him, His
will and linked to His holiness. Left to our own devices and abilities we do
not have the strength to stay locked into God in a materialistic society.
When Paul said to pray without ceasing he isn't
saying get on your knees in a constant manner physically, he meant something
along the lines of always having God first. He needs to be the primary and
supreme factor in the decisions in your life. When people say you need to rest
in the Lord and find that quiet time I believe that too looks different to
different people. I personally cannot lock myself away in a closet or small
quiet room. Well, at least it wouldn't be my first preference. It would make my
kind of batty.
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