The great and glorious truths of the gospel are not meant to be kept a secret. But how do we go about sharing these truths in a society that often seems hostile to the Christian message and the story of Jesus? As Paul closes out his letter to the Colossians, he lays a beautiful groundwork explaining in the simplest terms how ordinary followers of Jesus can work together with God in sharing his good news.

As apprentices of Jesus, there are things that we have put off or rid ourselves of; things that didn’t fit from the old man. Now as we continue in our passage today, Paul is saying there are things that we ought to put on as followers of Jesus. Now as the new man, we have a new uniform and we are to wear it in our daily lives.

Often in our lives, we say we want change, but don’t make any changes. Where might this be true for you? Where are the areas where you’ve decided to change but haven’t changed? In today’s passage, Paul urges followers of Jesus to simply and aggressively live in a way that lines up with who we already are.

What matters most to you, and what gets the majority of your attention and effort? In this passage, Paul urgency the Colossians to remain in Jesus and reject counterfeit “saviours.” He celebrates that Jesus has done what is necessary for us, and calls us to life our full lives in Jesus, remembering that only he has the power to truly solve our problems.

Paul writes his letter to the Colossians to encourage them to be sure that they have a correct picture of Jesus and are not being swayed with alternative views of who Jesus is or what it means to follow him. In particular, Paul clarifies that just as suffering was a significant part of Jesus' life on earth, it is often also a part of the lives of those who follow him. As his disciples, we should not run from the challenges that come from following Jesus, but should actually view them as a part of a thriving life and faith, seeing them as stepping stones to becoming fully mature in Christ.

Deep in our souls, we feel that history and our universe has a purpose, that it’s going somewhere, that life must have a deep meaning. But we struggle to put our finger on it, and so often we live in ways that make our lives more empty. Until we understand and align ourselves with the true reason and purpose of the cosmos, we will never experience the thriving that our hearts long for. Spoiler alert: Jesus is the key to all of this. 

As we try to run after the “good life,” how do we know that we’re going in the right direction? It certainly is possible to go the wrong way and not know it for a while. As we step into Colossians, we’ll see that, for Paul, the answer comes by growing in our knowledge, friendship and obedience to the real Jesus. When we spend time with the authentic, we will increasingly and naturally recognize and reject the counterfeit.

Whose advice are you following these days? Who is teaching you how to live? We ALL learn how to live from other people, whether intentionally or not. Jesus offers himself to us as the master-teacher on this topic, and he invites us to apprentice with him in real life.