Sanctified by the Cross

6 Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, So walk in Him. Colossians 2:6 Our dog Ruby has a problem. She has a soft spot for squeaking toys.  Tenaciously she clings to that which we gave her.  When she receives a toy it is to her: chewable good news.  Every time it squeaks it is shouting forth that news to all who can hear it.  She squeaks the squeaking toy not only for the benefit of our hearing (thanks Ruby); she seems to be squeaking it so that she would hear the good news for herself again and again.  Having received it, she will not move on.  If you attempt to take away what she is clinging to, she will growl and hide under the coffee table making it very clear that she never intends to move on.  If you bring out other toys she will not move on or shift from that which she first was given.  She doesn’t get bored with it, she won’t move on. She seems to get more and more insistent that the toy that she first received is not onl...

4 I say this in order that no one may delude you with plausible arguments. 5 For though I am absent from the body, yet I am with you in spirit, rejoicing to see your good order and the firmness of your faith in Christ.      Colossians 2:4-5 There are a lot of ideas out there. Almost as many worldviews (or ways of making sense of life, humanity and why we are here) as there are people who believe them.  Some seem benign and harmless enough.  These ideas about what really matters and how the world really works, all without exception, have consequences. The committed suicide bomber, the materialistic rationalist and everyone in between have been captured by the consequences of their worldview.  Paul gives some time here to make sure the folks in Colossae and the Northwoods after them would realize these consequences and take right action.  Paul wrote earlier (2:2-3 ) that his desire for us was “to reach all the riches of full assurance of un...