Colossians 1:19-22

"For it has pleased [the Father] that all the divine fullness (the sum total of the divine perfection, powers, and attributes) should dwell in Him permanently" Colossians 1:19.

Father, what is the purpose of my reading this message, right now... This Word that so many people have been killed for trying to spread? This message believed to be so important that people have been boiled, burned, beaten, and imprisoned for trying to preserve. What is my intention in this moment to stop whatever I could otherwise be doing, and take this time to read from your Holy Word? Is it part of a self help plan for myself... Does my knowledge of these writings make me feel more spiritual to others. Is the desire for my knowledge of the bible to put me in good graces with others. Or, is it more than that... Do I really believe that this is You, speaking directly to me, right now. Could it be that in reading and understanding what is written, that I not only learn what the text is saying, but that I am getting to know YOU. I am trying to understand what YOU were you thinking when you gave this Word for me. The message seems important, and I know it is, but I also want what is behind it, Father? I want to know YOU. I keep getting mixed opinions about you and it confuses me sometimes. Is there something here to help me really get to know you.. Get closer to you? Amen.

I hope you prayed that prayer with me, today, before we look into these next few verses now, because it is my desire for us to get behind what is written here. I believe this is a great place in Gods' Word to get on the other side of the written Word and into Gods' presence. Jesus said once that, "God is spirit and we must worship Him in spirit". Jesus said that, "following the letter (just trying to know and appease His writings) leads to death, but following The Spirit, leads to life". And so, as we look at verse 19, I want us to be looking into the heart of God.

First, Paul refers here, to the "divine fullness". This is the sum total of the divine perfection, powers, and attributes of God, Himself. And more interesting, is that He says, "For it has pleased God that all these attributes should dwell in His Son". This seems very "Fatherly", doesn't it? I think of other passages like, "And behold, a voice from heaven said, This is My Son, My Beloved, in Whom I delight!" (Mat 3:17). But I am not able to hold on to this. I mean, you and I know God and Jesus are two... Father and Son... But they are both God, also. Whether I put them together or leave them separated, in my mind, they are "still" God. My problem was that, for some reason, it just sounded like God loves Himself, here. I know that's terrible, and so I prayed and prayed and I asked God to help me with this, and the Holy Spirit showed me that there was much more to this passage. God showed me that it was "me" whom "He" loved and it is that part of Himself, JESUS, that He was so proud to "give" for ME.

I am a Christian, Dear Friends... This is not boasting... Hiding this fact in an effort to be humble at some point puts me under a bushel, and you'll have to be a Christian to understand what I mean, but, as a Christian, i do a lot of strange, selfless things for people today. I make sacrifices for people, even strangers, with little concern for myself. Now, there is ME... and there is that PART OF ME that does those things that I never used to do, and I am very proud of that part of me that is doing it. I am helping people that really need help. Some of them, I think in my flesh don't deserve it, but in my spirit, I know that the Lord is bringing them to Himself by it and I am proud of that part of me that keeps doing it. Amen?

Listen, My Friends, we were created in Gods' Image... And that, In Christ, we are now being transformed into His likeness. In the same way that I am proud of that part of me that does these things now... God was and is proud of that "part" of Himself that we know as Jesus Christ. And the reason, He is proud of His Son is because He is the bridge between ME and and to YOU! That is why He is so proud of "that part" of Himself. I understand now what is behind verse 19 and it makes these next verses so beautiful and far more understanding.

20. "And God purposed that through (by the service, the intervention of) Him [the Son] all things should be completely reconciled back to Himself, whether on earth or in heaven, as through Him, [the Father] made peace by means of the blood of His cross."

21. "And although you at one time were estranged and alienated from Him and were of hostile attitude of mind in your wicked activities."

22. "Yet now has [Christ, the Messiah] reconciled [you to God] in the body of His flesh through death, in order to present you holy and faultless and irreproachable in His [the Father's] presence."

What a beautiful passage we have here in Paul's message to the Colossians, and we'll stop here and pick back up in verse 23, next time.

I love you.