And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross. (Colossians 2:15)
On Monday we looked at the freedom we have been given through the cross work of Christ. On Wednesday we looked at our forgiveness. Today we will look at our . . .
Faith
Once we have been set free through the forgiveness of our sins, we are now ready to live a life of faithfulness to our Lord Jesus Christ because “God made us alive with Christ” (Colossians 2:13). Through the cross work of Christ, we have been raised from death to life. God has given us a new heart, with new desires, and ultimately a new devotion to Jesus. God in Christ crucified our old sinful and rebellious nature and has given us a new loving nature. Before Jesus, we had no power to live a life that was pleasing, acceptable, and glorifying to God. But now, we have the same resurrection power coursing through our veins that raised Jesus from death to life on that first Easter morning.
We are no longer slaves to sin. Rather, we are sons of the Most-High God, and now have the ability to glorify God in what we think, do, say, and desire. Now, we will not do this perfectly until we cross the Jordan and are received into glory. But what we will do is desire living a life that is pleasing and glorifying to God and that will cause us to live increasingly more for Jesus and less for ourselves.
Remember, we were once dead in our sins. We were a cold, corrupted, contaminated, corpse that could not respond spiritually to God. We were, “dead men walking!” But, with our new life in Christ through a faith that has been given to us because we have trusted in Christ alone, we are moved by the power of the Holy Spirit to prefer Him more – to prize Him more – to please Him more. Having trusted in Jesus, we now treasure Him above all things.
The ultimate disarming of the devil is through our new desire to live for something bigger than the self. You see, once you are in Christ, the devil cannot take you out of His hand. But what he can do is mess up your life along the way into glory. The devil’s goal now is to distract us from our devotion to Jesus to disrupt our lives.
Remember, through our freedom, forgiveness and our faith, we are given the power to say ‘Yes’ to Jesus and ‘No’ to the self. The devil has been disarmed. Let that truth set all of us free to live lives of meaning, significance, and purpose for the glory of God and the good of all others.
This is the Gospel. This is grace for your race. NEVER FORGET THAT . . . AMEN!
Grace for the Race 