Welcome to BibleBum where we are exploring the entire Bible in one year to better learn how to follow God’s instructions and discover the purpose for our lives.  The BibleBum blog uses The One Year Chronological Bible, the New Living Translation version.  At the end of each day’s reading, Rob, a cultural history aficionado and seminary graduate, answers questions from Leigh An, the blogger host, about the daily scripture.  To start from the beginning, click on “Index” and select Day 1.

Colossians 1:24-4:18

Questions & Observations

Q. (Colossians 1:27): What does “Christ lives in you” mean?

A. He’s referring to the presence of God within us, though I confess I am not clear on why he refers to Christ within us rather than the Spirit (though note that his larger point is that the Gentiles have been accepted into God’s family).

Q. (2:7):  How do you “Let your roots grow down into him, and let your lives be built on him?  I would take it to mean that you take Jesus’ love into your heart and let it change who you are.  You let it grow until it takes over.  Then, you will be fulfilled?

A. What Paul is describing is cultivating a relationship with Christ via prayer, the reading of Scripture, and fellowship with other believers.  This is what will allow Jesus’ “roots” to grow in us, and make us more like Him.

Q. (2:20-23): Instead of following the ways of the world, we are to follow Jesus and copy his love and grace in our own way.

A. Yes.  Christ calls us to follow Him in our present circumstances.  What I mean by that is that Jesus does NOT want us to move to the Holy Land and walk around with a group of followers and the die for the sins of the world.  The real Jesus already did that: He doesn’t want clones, but people who willingly follow His teachings and act in the ways that He would act if He were living in your present circumstances.

O. (3:17): This made me think of how different I may act if I wore a name tag that said, “Leigh An, Ambassador for Christ.”  It certainly makes me sit up and think twice about it.

Q. (4:2-6): I admit it — God knows anyway — that I’m a daydreamer when it comes to praying.  I start off a little hasty because I am usually squeezing the prayer between two other projects, errands, etc.  I don’t think I pray respectfully.  Feedback, Rob?

A. Keep trying.  Like anything worth doing, it requires practice.  You must train your body in how to pray, and only you can make the process work — with God’s help, of course.