From the Home Place

October 13, 2025

I will be using the New American Standard Version for Bible quotes:

As we begin our study of Colossians 3:1-4, because of the “Therefore” in v. 1, we have to go back to Chapter 2 to determine the proper context of Chapter 3. Colossians 2:6 is a great start, “Therefore as you have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him.” I usually would not stack two “therefore” statements together, but here it seems to work.

As your reading of Chapter 2 has revealed, to become a Christian we place our complete faith in the finished work of Jesus Christ. His life, death, burial and resurrection are our hope! Through faith, by God’s grace (Eph. 2:8), we are now dead to sin and alive to Christ. As 2:6 clearly states, we are now expected to live lives honoring of the name of Jesus. Note the words Paul uses in verse 6, “Christ Jesus the Lord.” Christ – “The Savior”, Jesus – “The Anointed One,” – Lord – Master. Jesus is the anointed one who saves, as such He is the Christian’s Master, and we are to “walk” with Him, not that He is obligated to walk with us.

My, how often we seem to get this one simple task backwards. We tend to live our lives as if we are doing God a favor by asking Jesus to accompany us on our journey. There is a reason that I constantly refer to Christians as a “Christ-follower.” The Master leads, the servant follows. Read Colossians 2:7 once again!

Now note, verses 9, 10 & 11 all contain the phrase, “in Him.” It isn’t that you as a Christ-follower now have Jesus in you, the amazing fact is that you have been placed “in Him!” Remember that we have often mentioned that the first response to the first sin was “fear!” When I was a little kid, I was afraid of the dark. The ranch I grew up on, didn’t have any kind of light out in the corrals or barns until I was well into high school. As such, I spent several years walking around in the dark doing chores or checking cows during calving, totally afraid.

I wasn’t afraid of a boogeyman grabbing me, I was afraid of stepping on a rattle snake or into a nasty critter. (Well, O.k., there could have been a boogeyman there as well.) Instead of stumbling around in the dark, it sure would have been great to have had a light. The same is true of our life apart from Christ, we are stumbling around in the dark, filled with fear. Yet “in Him” we walk with Jesus, the Light of the world! (Jn. 9:5) Jesus tells us some 350 times in the Bible, “Fear not.” Why, because the Light gives clarity and security. 2 John makes it clear, “The one who loves his brother abides in the Light and there is no cause for stumbling in him.”(v.10)

As a Christ-follower, now read Colossians 3:1-4 and pray that the light comes on! In verse 1 and again in verse 2 we are to keep our focus on “things above.” Look at verse 4, because we are “in Christ” “who is our life, we now walk by the Light, not by the darkness on the world, and as such we “will be revealed with Him in glory.”

Three phases: Salvation, sanctification, glorification! When you acknowledge Jesus as your Savior, you are saved, rhen you enter into the process of sanctification by learning to walk with Christ and you will be glorified with Christ in heaven!!!

Please note, you are saved through faith and faith alone, not by church membership, nor by baptism. The Bible makes it very clear that those two elements are to be a byproduct of salvation, not a means to salvation. “For there is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men by which we must be saved.” Acts 4:12

As a Christ-follower, you are to walk with Him until you are glorified in Heaven, all by His amazing grace!

Walking with Jesus with you, Neal