eDevotion
Encouragement for your daily walk with God
Let’s do a little pretending right now. I want you to imagine that you just finished a sumptuous meal at an expensive restaurant and you ordered their house specialty dessert: Chocolate Lovers’ Supreme-Triple Chocolate Lava Cake. After working on it for a while, you finally admit…“Sorry, but I can’t finish that specialty dessert. It’s just too, well, chocolaty for me.”
How would you describe your specialty dessert? Loaded with chocolate. Thoroughly full of chocolate. Oozing chocolate in every direction. The most chocolaty thing I have ever seen or tasted. Maybe the easiest thing to say is, “That dessert is very rich in chocolate.”
That’s exactly what Paul had in mind when he told the Colossian Christ followers to, “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly [in abundance]...” He wants us to be rich in the Word of Christ; our mind loaded with the Word, our hearts completely full of the Word, the Word oozing in every direction as we apply it to every circumstance in life. When a Christ follower is filled with the Word of Christ like that, he is calm during times of turmoil and humble during times of blessing.
How would you describe your specialty dessert? Loaded with chocolate. Thoroughly full of chocolate. Oozing chocolate in every direction. The most chocolaty thing I have ever seen or tasted. Maybe the easiest thing to say is, “That dessert is very rich in chocolate.”
That’s exactly what Paul had in mind when he told the Colossian Christ followers to, “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly [in abundance]...” He wants us to be rich in the Word of Christ; our mind loaded with the Word, our hearts completely full of the Word, the Word oozing in every direction as we apply it to every circumstance in life. When a Christ follower is filled with the Word of Christ like that, he is calm during times of turmoil and humble during times of blessing.
To be rich in the Word of Christ means more than memorizing it, as important as that is. Paul said to let the Word of Christ “dwell” in you—to make its home there, not as a guest, but as a family member with access to every room in the house, even the closets!
When the Word of Christ dwells in us, we cherish it, listen to it, and live it. We don’t try to change it to fit our purposes, we allow the Word of Christ to change us so that we can become what God wants us to be. And when the word of Christ is dwelling in us richly, there’s only one outcome: deep, abounding gratitude to God. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, now and always.
Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord. Colossians 3:16
No comments:
Post a Comment