A Call To The Remnant

For in him dwells all the fulness of the Godhead bodily. And ye are complete in him, which is the head of all principality and power:(Col 2:9-10)

You are complete in Him. In Jesus we find fulfillment. We find everything that we need to live this life. In Jesus dwells the fullness of God and that fullness dwells in us. Circumcision was the sign of the Old covenant, and in the new our hearts are circumcised.  The proof of this circumcision of the heart is found in verse seven. It says that those who are in Him are rooted and grounded in Him and established in Him. And it says that they are abounding in thanksgiving. That word abounding in the Greek means to “superabound.’ Its an excess, filled to overflowing, flooded. If you are complete in Him one of the major signs of this will be a life lived in extravagant thankfulness.

A thankful heart is a healthy heart. One who is abounding in thankfulness is rooted and grounded in the reality of what the Lord has done for them. It dominates their thinking. It directs their emotions. It counteracts self pity. It focuses the mind. It keeps the smile on our faces despite our circumstances. It affect the countenance. A thankful heart shines out from our face and it radiates light into the darkness of every situation. It gives us a youthful spirit. Thankfulness leads to joy. And this joy, the joy of the Lord is our strength. We all know people who are not thankful, who are in fact grumblers. They abound in grumblings. They are self focused. They are miserable. They are fearful. They are angry and discontent.

Brothers and sisters, beware lest anyone steal away your thankful heart. In verse eight we are warned where this theft could come from. Philosophy. We get out word sophistry from this word. And in this case it was Jewish sophistry. Much talking and arguing and debating. This will steal away your thankful heart and draw you away from the simplicity of the faith that was established in you. The traditions of men, whether it was Jewish traditions or whether it is the traditions of religious men who are professors of Christianity today and in the last several centuries and millennia, are nothing more than the basic principals of this world. Only as we find fulfillment in Christ alone shall we walk in thankfulness. It is by revelation and not the clever arguments of religious men. One is supernatural and bound in Christ, and the other is natural and bound in the vain imaginations of men. One is life, the other ids death. Beware brothers and sisters and guard your thankful hearts.