This past week I began a study of the book of Colossians with a neighbor. We’re going through a guided study entitled “The Complete Christian” prepared by the folks at Matthias Media. They have a number of guided book studies and if you’re looking for something to help you remain focused during your quiet time and work systematically through Scripture, then they have a number of good resources for you.

The particular study that my neighbor and I are working through begins with an overview and introduction of Colossians, but it quickly turns to examining the verses that summarize the whole message of Colossians. In Colossians 2:6-7, Paul writes,

“Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving.”

Colossians 2:6-7 seems to me to be not just a good summary of the whole letter, but of the whole of the Christian life. Here’s how Philip Jensen and Tony Payne summarize Paul’s message here, “Paul’s message to the Colossians was clear. Just as they had accepted Jesus as their Lord, so they were to walk in him – not adding something to him, or wandering off down some other path, or moving on to some higher experience, but growing in the spot where they had been planted: in Christ, the Lord and Master of the universe” (Philip Jensen and Tony Payne, Interactive Bible Studies: Colossians, the Complete Christian, p.16).

In the end, the Christian life is not about the Christian’s life so much as it is about Christ’s life “manifested in our mortal bodies” (2 Corinthians 4:11). We’re to walk, be rooted, and built up “in him.” As we strive to “live the Christian life” this week, let’s look to Christ, trusting in his life, death, and resurrection on our behalf and praying that God would make those glorious realities manifest in our mortal bodies.