Date: 6/22/12
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2 For I want you to know how great a struggle I have on behalf of you, and those in Laodicea, and all those who have not seen my face ⌊in person⌋a, 2 so that their hearts may be encouraged, united in love and into all the wealth of the full assurance of insight into the knowledge of the mystery of God, Christ, 3 in whom all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are hidden. 4 I say this in order that no one will deceive you with persuasive speech, 5 for even if I am absent in the flesh, yet I am with you in spirit, rejoicing and seeing your good order and the steadfastness of your faith in Christ.
Made Alive in Christ
6 Therefore as you have received Christ Jesus the Lord, live in him, 7 firmly rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding with thankfulness. 8 Beware lest⌊anyone take you captive⌋b through philosophy and empty deceit, according to ⌊human tradition⌋c, according to the elemental spirits of the world and not according to Christ, 9 because in him all the fullness of deity dwells bodily, 10 and you are filled in him, who is the head over every ruler and authority, 11 in whom also you were circumcised with a circumcision not made by hands, by the removal of the body of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ, 12 having been buried with him in baptism, in which also you were raised together with him through faith in the working of God, who raised him from the dead.
Record
In him all the fullness of deity dwells (9) … and you are filled in him (10) … in whom also (11) ...Reflect
- The filling is mentioned in the same breath as his deity and the burial and raising with him.
- The filling is possible for him to do only because of his fullness as deity.
- The filling is possible in us only through death to the old man and birth of the new man.
- As Christians, we must avoid the position of wanting this filling without embracing his full deity or without accepting our need to die to self.
- We can experience the fullness that God has to offer by embracing his deity and by dying to self.
- The fullness offered by Christ is satisfaction of our souls. The pursuit of that satisfaction defines our drive in life. It seems that everything we do is in pursuit of this fullness, whether we’re looking for it in the right place or not. That drive is expressed through workaholism, sexual promiscuity, pursuit of power, knowledge, substance abuse, religion, and so on.
- This relates to the idea of contentment (cf. Php 4.10-14).
- The pursuit is the pursuit of contentment.
- This is how Paul learned to be content.
- It is found in the fully-divine Christ through the old-man/new-man conversion and life.
- God intends for us to pursue and find that satisfaction, but only in Christ.
- (Is this God-given desire to have soul satisfaction part of the imago Dei, or at least part of how he made us distinct from the animals?)
- Augustine of Hippo: “God, you have made us for yourself, and our hearts are restless till they find their rest in you.”
Respond
- You have made me to want satisfaction for my soul. You have designed this universe to be unable to provide that satisfaction. You have provided Jesus to us as the sole source of that satisfaction. You made us for this!
- When I notice the lack of that satisfaction, my two anchor points are the fullness of Christ as God, death to self, and the new man he created. When my soul wants, it wants you. Turn my want into fullness.
- CR: Note at least one area where I feel lack of soul satisfaction, and pray:
- How does the fullness of Christ provide for what I really want?
- How does death to self, and resurrection life, provide the avenue to the satisfaction I want?
- Then … respond to whatever the answers to these questions are.
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