📖Scripture:
“Once you were alienated from God and were hostile in your minds because of your evil deeds. But now He has reconciled you by Christ’s physical body through death to present you holy, unblemished, and blameless in His presence— if indeed you continue in your faith, established and firm, not moved from the hope of the gospel that you heard…”
Colossians 1:21–23
🔎Examination:
Paul’s contrast is absolute: his audience (the Colossians) was once alienated and hostile, but is now reconciled to be presented as holy. The shift is not cosmetic; it is ontological (dealing with the nature of being). They are new creations grounded in the historic cross (“Christ’s physical body through death”). Christ Jesus does not reconcile abstractions; He reconciles a people He will personally present to the Father in His presence. Reconciliation is God bringing the saints into His holy presence, not merely adjusting our legal status from afar. The elect crave the WORD because in it the Holy One communes with His people and conforms them/us to Christ.
The conditional clause (“if indeed you continue…”) never introduces uncertainty about God’s purpose; it exposes counterfeits. Continuance is not an add-on; perseverance is the necessary evidence of genuine union. The saints do not remain firm by clinging to trends but by refusing to be “moved from the hope of the gospel”—the apostolic, once-for-all message, not modern mythologies through the teachings of demons. Here, counterfeit systems collapse. Mormonism’s evolving cosmology, JW’s demoted Christology, Rome’s magisterial accretions, and NAR’s fresh “words” all displace or dilute the finished work of the crucified and risen Lord and the sufficiency of the canon. Paul anchors maturity in what the church heard—the public, universal gospel proclaimed by the apostles, preserved in Scripture.
Notice the goal: to present you “holy, unblemished, and blameless.” That is priestly language fulfilled in the church’s identity as a royal priesthood (1 Pet 2:9). Identity precedes participation: saints are made holy to be God’s temple-people. Therefore, participation (gathering, submission to elders, mutual care, church discipline, mission) is not brand loyalty; it is the inevitable expression of a reconciled people living before God’s face. Nominal religion treats church as a weekly event; Scripture defines church as the regenerate, covenanted Body & Bride whose life is (re)ordered by the WORD.
The clause “in His presence” matters devotionally. God is not content to tolerate you at the edge of His courts. He reconciled you to present you in His presence—face-to-face communion as the end for which you were made. That future certainty galvanizes present holiness. We rid ourselves of hypocrisy and slander because such toxins contradict who we are, where we live, and where we’re heading. Perseverance is not white-knuckle heroism; it is Holy Spirit-empowered stability in the hope already heard.
🤺Action:
Test yourself (2 Cor 13:5): Am I craving WORD-derived, pure milk of the sixty-six books of Scripture... the true, authentic, and apostolic gospel of Jesus Christ, or seeking new voices and “fresh revelations” that are from deceiving spirits and the teachings of demons?
Read Colossians 1:15-20 to hear what the WORD has to say about who Christ Jesus is.
Read Hebrews 10:19-25; 1 Peter 2:9-12; Jude 3–4, 20–25. Do you realize that God alone can reconcile you to live in His presence with His people?
🧠Reflection:
Our future presentation “blameless” is not a pipe dream or mirage. Stand firm in the gospel you have heard, and let that immutable and unshakable TRUTH reshape your speech, your loyalties, and your affections today, in Christ Jesus our LORD!
Click the following link for a short video devotional of today's post:
Blessings & love,
Kevin M. Kelley
Pastor
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