Don't Drift Away

“But you must continue to believe this truth and stand in it firmly. Don’t drift away from the assurance you received when you heard the Good News. . .” Colossians 1:23 NLT.

Industry in Colossae was fading. While Laodicea and Hierapolis were cities on the move, Colossae was a city in decline. Nearly 2,000 years later people are calling Colossae“the least important city to receive a letter included in the New Testament.” One thing Colossae had in abundance was ideas. Greek settlers had brought all kinds of ideas to the community. The Colossian Jews had ideas of their own.

God was changing lives in Colossae, no doubt, but new ideas were hard to resist. At first it was not so much that anybody was deliberately out to change the Christian message as they were just drifting away from Jesus by adding their own ideas to the message. Epaphras was alarmed at people placing their ideas on level with Jesus. Paul warned the Colossians against drifting and told them to anchor in Jesus. The Colossians needed Jesus more than anything.

Jesus enables us to see the invisible God ( 1:15 ).

Jesus existed before anything made by God ( 1:15 ).

Jesus created everything ( 1:16 ).

Jesus holds together everything created ( 1:17 ).

Jesus is the head of His body, the church ( 1:18 ).

Jesus is the first in everything, including the resurrection ( 1:18 ).

Jesus is God in His fullness ( 1:19 ).

Jesus reconciled everything to God ( 1:20 ).

Jesus made peace with God through His blood on the cross ( 1:20 ).

Jesus brings God’s enemies back to Him as friends ( 1:21 -22).

Jesus makes sinners able to stand faultless in God’s presence ( 1:22 ).

Paul wants the Colossians to think it through very carefully. New ideas may sound good. Embracing them might make you feel superior. But nothing compares to Jesus. Those who put their ideas, no matter how clever, on level with Jesus drift away from God. Hold on to Jesus!

— Bob Clark

7/25/2001