Good morning!
Welcome to your morning coffee! May our Heavenly Father tug at our grip on our inner selves. Father, remind us today that you have claimed us as your children. But you are also our master and our maker. We are too quick to remember you as Father, and too slow to remember you as the rightful owner of our inner being. Remind us today, Father, that your son Jesus reigns over us as King of Kings and Lord of Lords. May the message of Jesus throughout all of the Bible take root in us unto to owning us. In Jesus's name, turn us back to you Father, that we might not try to rule over ourselves.
Your Morning Song: "Hold On" by Jon Guerra
Your Morning Scripture: Colossians 3:16-17
Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.
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There is a rich gathering of Godly observations we can make in these verses. But for our time together, let's just focus on this one. It is foundational to how we will interact with the rest of it.
What does Paul mean when he says, "dwell"? What does it mean for the word of Christ to dwell in us? The word is not one that Paul was using to convey the idea of the word of Christ simply passing through us. It is not a visitor. It is not someone here on vacation one day, and then gone the next.
Paul's use of "dwell" is the sort of thing the owner of a house would do. Paul is telling us to submit our inner selves to the word of Christ, that his word, the message of him throughout all of scripture, would make our inner being its home.
Is the Bible at home in us? Is the Gospel alive in us as one who is at home?
Not sure? Let us ourselves. The rest of the text here is the outward expression of one who has invited the word of Christ to make their inward being its home. Do we teach and admonish each other in wisdom? Do praise and worship songs seem to weave themselves into very fabric of our daily lives? Is our heart full of thankfulness to God, or full of a mixture of other things?
Do we do what we do in Jesus's name? Or our own? Are we thankful as we act in Jesus's name?
May the word of Christ dwell within us today. May we give up ownership of our inner selves and give the deed to Christ.
