The Strong Place
Colossians 2:6-7 NKJV
6 As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him, 7 rooted and built up in Him and established in the faith, as you have been taught, abounding in it with thanksgiving.
In his letter to the church at Colosse, Paul hones in on their identification with Christ. This is not a light letter, and the truths reveal a strong spiritual place for the believer.
"As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him." Paul was speaking to believers who had received Christ by faith. These people had never seen Jesus; they had simply believed the gospel message preached to them. They received the Lord as we all must do by simple faith. They believed the message and acted accordingly. Now Paul is relating to them that, just as they received the Lord, so they were to walk in Him.
What does it mean to walk in Him? This is where Paul moves from simply believing a message to living a life connected to the Lord. Paul had a revelation of what happens to the person who receives Christ. Paul knew, because he was taught by the Holy Spirit, that anyone who is in Christ is a new creation. He understood the new birth and what transpires when someone receives Christ. Now he is encouraging the believers in Colosse to not only receive the Lord but to live their lives in the light of these new-creation realities.
Paul goes on in the next verse to state that the believer is to be rooted and built up in Christ. This speaks to identity and strength. Now the believer is identifying with being in Christ even more than the other identifiers in their lives. Paul spoke in his other letters that, in Christ, it was not about male, female, slave, free, Greek, Jew, but that Christ was the primary identity. So the believer was to identify with being in Christ, which established them with strong roots. And they were to be built up strong in Christ, which gave them a new source of strength for life.
All of this was by faith. A believer couldn't depend on his senses to confirm being in Christ. Christ is received by faith and identified with by faith and built up by faith. And because this is by faith, not feelings, the believers can overflow with thanksgiving.
This is so much more than simply believing in heaven when you die. This is a whole new way of Kingdom living here and now. If Paul wrote these words by inspiration of the Holy Spirit, then we can do exactly what is written. We can live united with Christ, rooted and built up with Him, and strong in this faith. Oh, and don't forget the thanksgiving.
Prayer
Lord, thank You that You didn't merely save me, then leave me helpless in a dark world. Thank You that I can be strong in You. That united with You is my strong place.