September 24 I Saturday

Song of Solomon 4-5

Galatians 3

“Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of your evil behaviour. But now He has reconciled you by Christ’s physical body through death to present you holy in His sight, without blemish and free from accusation.”    —Colossians 1:21-22

The opening verse of this devotion beautifully summarizes the gospel. We are separated from the life of God in the Garden of Eden due to our sin but for those who call upon His name, they have been restored. Where are we in relation to all that He has done for us—do we find ourselves standing at a distance from what He invites us into or are we fully immersed in Christ? This is not a one-time question in our lives, but a question that we may come back to again and again throughout our life.

       Even after we have given our lives to Christ, we can go through seasons where we lose sight of all that God has invited us into, and there can be a slow drift back into old mindsets, old ways of thinking and behaving. To combat this way of thinking, Paul encourages us, “Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory” (Colossians 3:1-4). As we believe in what Christ has done for us, where He is, there we are also. We are grafted into Christ, into His acceptance, His security and His belonging. 

       Who is Christ that we are grafted into? Colossians 1:15 tells us, “The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation.” This verse is not speaking in terms of chronological order but rather in terms of prominence and position. Christ is the prominent one, the firstborn Son over all of creation. As it continues in Colossians 1:18, “And He is the head of the body, the church; He is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy.” He came to reconcile us back to God, by offering His life as a sacrifice of atonement for us to make us holy in His sight without blemish, as Colossians 1:20 says: “And through Him to reconcile to Himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through His blood, shed on the cross.” Jesus came and invited us into a relationship of security.

       If we have placed our faith in Christ and what He did on the cross on our behalf, we have been grafted into Christ.

Prayer: Dear Jesus, You are the firstborn over all creation. You have reconciled me to God through Your shed blood on the cross. Thank You, Jesus.