August 16 Daily Devotional

28 Jul August 16 Daily Devotional

A SERIES OF DEVOTIONS BASED ON PAUL’S LETTER TO THE COLOSSIANS

JESUS IS THE ONLY ANSWER

Colossians 1:28 “He is the one we proclaim, admonishing and teaching everyone with all wisdom, so that we may present everyone fully mature in Christ.”

In a multi-cultural world that screams for diversity and personal freedom to do what feels good to the individual, “He (Jesus) is the one we proclaim. . .”  You talk about counter-cultural.  That is what Christianity is!  God’s message of salvation in today’s culture is like a square peg in a round hole.

Does this mean as a Christian what you have been taught, what you confess and believe in your heart is no longer relevant?  That is what the message of the current society says?  If the message of the gospel is human, then society has every right to question it and even reject it.  However, the Good News of God’s plan of salvation by grace through faith in Jesus is not human.  It is Divine!  God is the one who has loved the world and all who are in it and ever will live in this world so much that He sent His one and only Son Jesus to be the only way to overcome Satan, receive God’s forgiveness for sins committed, and receive His gift of heaven.

It is faith in Jesus you have been given by God because of His love for you.  It is by this love through His gift of faith to you in His Son you are saved.  This is God’s message to you.  It is His only message.  Opinion polls do not determine its truth.  Social media’s acceptance or rejection does not count either.  Peter, put in jail because he healed a man in the name and by the power of Jesus, confessed before his captors:  “It is by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified but whom God raised from the dead, that this man stands before you healed.  Jesus is “ ‘the stone you builders rejected, which has become the cornerstone.’ Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved.” (Acts 4:10-12)  The teaching of Jesus remains the only one to provide you with God’s salvation plan, “(Jesus said) No one comes to the Father except through Me.” (John 14:6)  Whoever believes in Jesus shall be saved. (John 3:16)

This is why “He is the one we proclaim . . . so that we may present everyone fully mature in Christ.” (Colossians 1:28)  God bless you with faith in Jesus!

Prayer:  Lord, send Your Spirit into my heart daily to renew me in my baptismal grace to believe in Your Son Jesus and through Him receive from You the crown of everlasting life.  In Jesus’ name.  Amen.

Oh, for a faith that will not shrink Tho’ pressed by many_a foe;

That will not tremble on the brink Of poverty or woe;

That will not murmur nor complain Beneath the chast’ning rod,

But I the hour of grief or pain Can lean upon its God;

A faith that shines more bright and clear When tempests rage without;

That, when in danger, knows no fear, In darkness feels no doubt;

That bears unmoved the world’s dread frown Nor heeds its scornful smile;

That sin’s wild ocean cannot drown Nor Satan’s arts beguile;

A faith that keeps the narrow way Till life’s last spark is fled

And with a pure and heavenly ray Lights up the dying bed.

Lord, give us such a faith as this; And then, whate’er may come,

We’ll taste e’en now the hallowed bliss Of an eternal home.

(TLH 396)