Smeagol is Free!
A hermitudinal view of...stuff...


7.20.2006  

Struggling Powerfully

Here's a little excerpt from some journaling that went on sometime during the early morning hours yesterday. As always, note that things that come from my journal tend to be raw and rambling in nature.

Colossians 1:28, 29
Him we proclaim, warning everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom, that we may present everyone mature in Christ. For this I toil, struggling with all His energy that He powerfully works in me.

Within those two verses, there are three things I see immediately. First, the proclamation of God's glory. Second, to whom that glory is proclaimed. Third, the means by which such proclamation takes place.

Christ is proclaimed. What does it mean that He is proclaimed? Christ is, as Paul has written elsewhere, the glory of God seen, the image of the invisible God. That which is eternal, infinite, perfect, holy....He is seen in Christ. Yes, He is proclaimed! Psalm 113 says that from the rising of the sun to its setting, the name (glory) of the LORD is to be praised. I cannot say that of myself, nor can anything in all creation, as only God is worthy of praise for His own sake. He is deserving of proclamation, of praise. It is good and righteous to see the LORD in this way, where there is no rival for affection, no good affection that is not recognized as having its ultimate source in Him. Such is the LORD, the very glory of God being proclaimed in the face of Christ.

Christ is proclaimed to the church. In teaching and warning, the purpose is "to present everyone mature in Christ." Who is everyone? His body, the sheep of His pasture. His brothers and sisters, His inheritance, His bride! Yes, it is His church we teach and warn for the sake of maturity and completeness in Christ. His churhc, now that Christ is risen and ascended and seated at the right hand of the Father, is the visible proclamation of Christ's glorious work to save sinners. His proclamation has a clear and progressive purpose in the lives of the saints. We are to behold Him, seeing Him proclaimed in His glory, and as we do so, we are to become even as He is. How is this to happen unless it is done within the context of the community of believers, the church?

Christ is proclaimed to His church by His power. All the teaching and warning in the world is useless without the power of the Holy Spirit changing hearts. It is His glory that the cross and the cross alone saves! Anything less or anything more is no gospel! And the power of Christ in the life of the believer? It leads to struggle. Yes, struggle! The energy that He works powerfully within us leads not to a superhero mentality, but rather to a humble, desperate struggle to rely upon Christ's infinite and glorious strength. Why? Power is perfected in weakness! Christ dwells in our hearts through faith...a faith that requires us to recognize our dire inability to seek and savor the glory of a holy God, a faith that graciously grants us the new hearts with a capacity to truly esteem that which is truly worthy of esteem. I struggle, His infinite energy works within me, His brothers and sisters are built up into His likeness, and He is gloriously proclaimed.

posted by Bolo | 1:02 AM
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