Remember Who You Are

As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him. (Colossians 2:6)

How did you receive Jesus? You received him by faith as a free gift of grace. The Father loved you before the foundation of the world. He sent His Son to save you from your sins. The Son gave Himself for you, to cleanse you from all unrighteousness, giving His very life on the cross. By the power of God’s Spirit, the gospel was preached to you, and you believed the message. You repented of your sins and received the forgiveness of God.

As you received Jesus by grace through faith, so walk by faith. Put away the old life and its sinful ways, and live the life of Christ in you.

Buried with him in baptism, wherein also ye are risen with him through the faith of the operation of God, who hath raised him from the dead. (Colossians 2:12)

In baptism, you are symbolically united to the death and burial of Christ. Your old self with your sinful deeds and burdensome guilt are put to death and buried. On the cross, Jesus carried your sin and paid the full price of your guilt. The whole record of debt against you was nailed to the cross and satisfied by the offering of the spotless Lamb of God.

On the third day, Jesus burst forth from the grave triumphant over death! You rose with him. Just as you share in his death, you share in his life. Through faith and the faithfulness of God, you live a resurrected life with Christ. Therefore, walk no longer according to the sinful ways of this world, but as a Child of God - dead to sin, but alive to God.

For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory. (Colossians 3:3-4)

To know your purpose, and to have the strength to face the future and endure, it is important to know where you came from, where you are, and where you are going. Each daily choice you make, each word you speak, and each path you travel are not isolated incidents, but part of the greater story of your life.

You were dead in sin. You walked according to the ways of this world and the power of the devil (Eph. 2:2). Before Jesus Christ came into your life, you were a servant of sin - without hope and without God in the world.

You are now dead to sin. Jesus came. Your old life is crucified with Christ and the life you now live, you live by the life of Jesus in you. God has “forgiven you all trespasses” and removed your sin from you as far as the east is from the west. You are clean. You are holy.

You will be with Christ in glory. This is your destiny. Through your union with Christ, you are set to inherit eternal life and riches in the everlasting kingdom of God. In light of this reality, live as a child of God ought to live.

Believer, you are united to Christ. By the power of His life in you, be transformed thoroughly. Put forth every diligent effort to become more and more like Jesus - both in your outward, visible deeds, and in your invisible innermost thoughts.

Set your affections on heavenly things. What you desire is what you will pursue. What you diligently pursue, you will desire more. Cast off your desire for earthly things. Love and pursue things of true and abiding value. Delight thyself also in the Lord: and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart. (Psalm 37:4)

Conform your thoughts to the ways of the Lord. Read and listen to God’s word, and have it shape your thinking about all things. Do not be wise in your own eyes, but instead learn always from God’s word and the counsel of the godly, and be transformed by the renewing of your mind.

Let your words also fitly reflect the life of Jesus in you. Do not let corrupt, destructive, and vile communication come from your lips. Rather, administer grace to all who hear you, as you speak in truth and sincerity, seeking to honor God and please His Spirit with your words.

And may your actions demonstrate the righteous goodness of the God who dwells in you. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.

You are a child of the Heavenly Father. You are united to Jesus Christ. Remember who you are. Live ever as one transformed by the life of Christ.