Living in Jesus Christ!

“So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live your lives in him, rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness.

See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the elemental spiritual forces of this world rather than on Christ.

For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form, and in Christ you have been brought to fullness. He is the head over every power and authority. In him you were also circumcised with a circumcision not performed by human hands. Your whole self ruled by the flesh was put off when you were circumcised by Christ, having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through your faith in the working of God, who raised him from the dead.” – Colossians 2:6-12 NIV

Apostle Paul was probably talking about strengthening the church when he has declared Colossians 2:6-12 because the context of Colossians 1:24-2:5 is about Paul’s labour for the church. I believe the main reason that He was labouring for the church is that he wants every follower of Jesus Christ to be “… united in love, so that they may have the full riches of complete understanding, in order that they may know the mystery of God, namely, Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.” (Colossians 2:2-3) He was concerned that they might get into false teachings about Jesus Christ (Colossians 2:4). Thus, I think the main point of Colossians 1:24-2:12 is about walking in the truth as followers of Jesus Christ.

If we are believers in Jesus Christ and baptised in His name, we need to walk in the truth by being rooted, built up in Him. We can do this by reading the Bible and praying in His name intimately. Reading the Bible, which is God’s word, helps us to stay in the foundation of Jesus (Luke 6:46-49) as it is the reminder on how to live as a devoted Jesus’ follower (2 Timothy 3:16-17). Praying to God in His name transforms our hearts to be devoted in Him (1 John 5:14-15) as prayers advocates us to stay focused in Jesus (Philippians 4:4-7). However, these are only be able to be done through the Spirit of God, who is within every believer in Christ (John 14:15-27). Without the Spirit, it is difficult for them to understand the big picture of each Bible verses and pray in His name humbly. In fact, they are not be able to focus on Jesus Christ if they do not have the Spirit of God within them, to be honest. I believe this is because of natural desires and passions (Galatians 5:17).

How can we receive the Spirit of God? I think we have to realise the need of Christ and make decisions to believe in Him. However, I think this is just temporal thought if we decide to believe in Jesus Christ on our own. God pours His Spirit into us when timing is right according to God’s (John 6:63-65). Once the Spirit is living within us, I believe that He is the eternal who is never going to leave us. We have to open our hearts all the time (Ephesians 1:13-14). I joined the church, which is now combined with Equippers. I only joined the church to hang out with some of the members. However, I had to go to New York a year later. When I was in New York and tried one of my extended family’s church for a while, my aunt told me that there was good church to go to. Thus, I tried that church and joined one of the Connect Groups. After a while, the Spirit of God suddenly hovered over and prompted me to get to know Jesus better because I was in legalistic side and trying to please people rather than God at that time. This is how I became a true follower of Christ and I cannot think how my life would be if I did not have Him by my side.

Reading the Bible and praying in Christ’s name are the main methods on strengthening believer’s faith to continue living in His name but there are other ways to do this as well. Two of the ways are by listening to Christian or church’s podcasts and by reading online devotionals or Christian articles because believers are able to learn belief and faith through Christian speakers and writers. The another way of strengthening faith is having Christian friends or mentors. This is probably the main reason that church buildings are in this world. To be more specific, churches are believers of Jesus Christ (Matthew 16:13-19) as every one of them take a part of Jesus’ body (1 Corinthians 12:27). “For just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, so in Christ we, though many, form one body, and each member belongs to all the others.” (Romans 12:4-5) Thus, for this reason, when we gather together in Christ’s name, we become the body of Jesus Christ (1 Corinthians 12) and a temple in Him (Ephesians 2:19-22). 1 Corinthians 3:16-17 states, “Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in your midst? If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy that person; for God’s temple is sacred, and you together are that temple.” If we want to have intimate studies about belief and faith about God, we could study theology through Bible Colleges. I have wanted to have studies about God other than other methods, I have decided to study theology through Carey Baptist College. My dreams are to become a Christian Writer and work in the church.