Journal Entry ~ 01/17/19

and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds,
22 he has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him,
23 if indeed you continue in the faith, stable and steadfast, not shifting from the hope of the gospel that you heard, which has been proclaimed in all creation under heaven, and of which I, Paul, became a minister. - Colossians 1:21-23

When you read these three verses together, you see Paul is presenting our past, our present, and our future.   Our past ~ And you, who once were alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds. Our present ~ 22 he has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him. Our future ~ 23 if indeed you continue in the faith, stable and steadfast, not shifting from the hope of the gospel that you heard. 

I find this interesting because so much of our mental and emotional anguish is the result of wrong thinking about one of these three areas in our lives. As a counselor, i spend a great deal of my time correcting people’s perspective of their past, their present, or their future. People who struggle with depression generally have a wrong perspective of the past, people who struggle with anxiety generally have a wrong perspective of the future, and people who struggle with relational issues generally have a wrong perspective of the present. 

Here, Paul sums up how we should view each of these in our lives succinctly and accurately. These three little verses encourage us to reflect on who we were, who we are, and who we are yet to be in Christ. So much of our struggle in life comes from our identify because we give so much weight to how the world defines us. The world dictates to us how we should view our past, our present, and our future. And those lies dictate our emotional response. 

We need to learn to guard our hearts from the lies the world would have us believe about who we are, and cling to the truths in this verse. There is freedom found in understanding who God created us to be. Dive into these truth, and let the Creator of the universe determine your identity. 


Press on ~ you are loved 💗

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