Colossians 2:6-8 (NIrV)
You received Christ Jesus as Lord. So keep on living your lives in him. Have your roots in him. Build yourselves up in him. Grow strong in what you believe, just as you were taught. Be more thankful than ever before.
Make sure no one controls you. They will try to control you by using false reasoning that has no meaning. Their ideas depend on human teachings. They also depend on the basic spiritual powers of this world. They don’t depend on Christ.
Explanation:
I feel like in our world right now, we are constantly bombarded by people’s opinions. Everyone has an opinion on everything, and they feel they must voice it. Take a scroll on social media for 10 seconds and you will see what I mean. Spend some time reading news stories or attend a kid’s sporting event, and you will witness how opinionated our culture has become. I was at my daughter’s soccer game, and this man kept screaming at the referee (who was a 13-year-old boy) that he didn’t know anything about soccer and he shouldn’t be on the field. I felt like I was in a movie, it was so unreal to me. This went on the whole game. He wasn’t embarrassed one bit, and thought his actions were completely okay.
Paul is kindly warning us to pay no attention to the opinions of this world, BUT to have our roots in God. His words make me think of these two gigantic trees that line my road. They are gorgeous! These trees have been there for many, many years and have very strong and large roots. The more we practice rooting ourselves in God, the more we will become like those trees. We must make it a habit in our lives to keep going to Him and Him alone for what is true. We must go to Him when we are confused, when we are doubting, when we are frustrated, when we are feeling pulled into the world’s lies. I love when Paul writes, “Their ideas depend on human teachings. They don’t depend on Christ.” What a powerful statement that we can hold on to when we start to fall into something we know is not from God. God calls us to depend on Him. Dependence on God is a good thing. Let that sink in. God doesn’t want us to do this on our own; He wants us to partner with Him and depend on Him every single day.
Application:
What do you think it means to have your roots in Him? What are some practical things you can start doing today to keep your roots in Him?
I believe that gratitude is powerful for our minds and hearts. Paul says to “be more thankful than ever before.” Take some time thanking God today for all He has blessed you with. Be specific.
Prayer:
Lord, thank You for wanting to be in a relationship with us. Thank You for creating us to depend on You. I pray that we would be rooted in You this week, and that we would have thankful hearts. Please help us to love those around us well, even the ones who are hard to love. Amen.