Completed

William Barclay, the famed commentator of the Scriptures, used his pen powerfully to illustrate the danger of neglecting discipline using Samuel Taylor Coleridge as his example. He wrote:

"Nothing was ever achieved without discipline; and many an athlete and many a man has been ruined because he abandoned discipline and let himself grow slack. Coleridge is the supreme tragedy of indiscipline. Never did so great a mind produce so little. He left Cambridge University to join the army; but he left the army because, in spite of all his erudition, he could not rub down a horse; he returned to Oxford and left without a degree. He began a paper called The Watchman which lived for ten numbers and then died. It has been said of him: “He lost himself in visions of work to be done, that always remained to be done. Coleridge had every poetic gift but one—the gift of sustained and concentrated effort.” In his head and in his mind he had all kinds of books, as he said himself, “completed save for transcription.” “I am on the eve,” he says, “of sending to the press two octavo volumes.” But the books were never composed outside Coleridge’s mind, because he would not face the discipline of sitting down to write them out. No one ever reached any eminence, and no one having reached it ever maintained it, without discipline."

Coleridge eventually died an opium addict. All of his work being undone because he lacked the discipline to complete it.

That’s the case with many a Christian today. There seems to be a lack of interest in the things of God. We are searching long and hard for that “one thing” that will make us happy. However, we seem to be looking in all the wrong places. Some may be looking at the end of a liquor bottle while others are looking at the end of an anti-depressant bottle. Some may be looking for love by being sexually promiscuous while others are wrapped up in the throes of pornography. Some feel like entertainment and comedy is what we really need to see us through the darkest days of our culture and society. Some are looking to find themselves and their self-worth. They are trying to find their true identity.

So why don’t we turn to the One who has created us? For what reasons do we not look to His Word to find that our identity is new in the Person and Work of the Lord Jesus Christ? Our homes would look a lot different if we focused our homes on the Lord Jesus. Our work would have a new flare if only we were working as unto the Lord Jesus. Our children would see a difference in the way that their parents were handling the daily stresses of life if only the focus was upon the Lord Jesus. We need to realize that God’s plan for us is to be like the Lord Jesus.

Read how the Apostle John said it:

Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God! therefore the world does not know us, because it did not know Him. beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is. And everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself, just as He is pure (1 John 3:1-3).

It takes discipline to purify ourselves so that we might be like Him. It takes discipline to understand that our lives are completed in Him. In reality, He is the One who completes us and causes us to complete all that He desires to be completed in our lives—to be like the Lord Jesus Christ.

Message in a Bottle

World Magazine reported: "A message in a bottle tossed into the Atlantic Ocean more than five decades ago recently made its way into a beachcomber's hands in Turks and Caicos Islands, southeast of the Bahamas. Paula Pierce of Hampton Beach, N.H., said her father tossed the bottle into the Atlantic near their seaside family motel sometime more than 50 years ago with a note inside that read "Return to 419 Ocean Boulevard and receive a $150 reward." Clint Buffington, who combs through beach trash for messages in bottles and posts the findings on his blog, found Pierce's father's erstwhile Coke bottle and made contact with the New Hampshire woman. No word on whether she plans to honor her father's $150 pledge." (http://www.worldmag.com/articles/18489)

What a neat story! But greater still is the message that God has given to us in His Word, the Bible. Certainly His message is not in a bottle. It is a book that is readily available to anyone who desires to have one to read. You can purchase one at a bookstore or you can receive one as a gift from the Gideons or you can get one at your local Christian church or you can even read it online! The Bible is readily accessible around the world and it is literally at your fingertips.

So what's the story? What gives? I've heard the Bible referred to as the Words of Life. What a great way to refer to God's Word. For in this Word you do find Life! The Word is this: that the Lord Jesus died according to the Scriptures, was buried, and was raised again according to the Scriptures (1 Corinthians 15:3, 4). That's the story!

Throughout the pages of the Bible you read about the need that each one of us has. What's the need? For our sins to be forgiven. The Bible clearly states that none of us is righteous in and of ourselves (Romans 3:10-18). And because none of us are righteous in our own right we fall desperately short of meeting God's standard (Romans 3:23). Now because of our sin we have a debt; the Bible tells us that the wages of sin is death (Romans 6:23). That is a hopeless situation, wouldn't you agree? But thanks be to God that His message doesn't stop there!

You see, if you accept God's story (that the Lord Jesus died according to the Scriptures, was buried, and was raised again according to the Scriptures) then you can receive the free gift that He is offering to you. What's the free gift? It's eternal life in the Lord Jesus (Romans 6:23).

For what reason did God do all of this through the Lord Jesus? Because while we were still sinners the Lord Jesus died for us (Romans 5:8). Wow! As you can tell just from these few verses, God is very interested in forgiving us of our sins! And I know what some of you might be thinking: "This seems to simple. After all, I've done some really bad stuff in my life." Guess what -- all of us have! And the offer of receiving His free gift is the same for all of us because all of us come to Him on equal footing. Every single one of us is guilty of sin and every one of us needs to be forgiven.

"So how do I get this forgiveness?" Again, a simple answer is given to us in the Words of Life:

If you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes to righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made to salvation. (Romans 10:9, 10)

That's how simple it is to believe the Words of Life that God Himself wrote so that we might have life -- and that the life He gives is eternal life. Here's a final thought:

For whoever calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. (Romans 10:13)

Greetings & Salutations!

I like to receive letters. In fact, I even prefer to hand write letters when wanting to communicate with loved ones and friends. The written letter is something that is personal, friendly and engaging. You sense the fact that the author of a handwritten letter is really interested in you because he has taken the time to actually write the letter to you in the first place.

This is the case with the Apostle Paul. He wrote a letter to the Church of Colosse. And in this letter he wrote some very interesting things about the Lord Jesus and how they were to live according to Him. It is a letter that many a preacher has preached and many a teacher has taught. It is certainly a letter that we should all learn to apply to our lives. For the truths that the Apostle Paul writes according to inspiration of the Holy Spirit were valid then as they are very valid even today.

Read how Paul begins his letter to the church at Colosse:

Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, and Timothy our brother, to the saints and faithful brethren in Christ who are in Colosse: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. (Colossians 1:1, 2)

Paul establishes in these opening sentences the authority by which he is writing the Church of Colosse. He is an apostle of Jesus by the will of God. If you know anything about Paul you will recall that prior to his salvation his name was Saul (Acts 8:1). Read how he describes himself in Philippians 3:3-6:

He was circumcised the eighth day, of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of the Hebrews; concerning the law, a Pharisee, concerning zeal, persecuting the church; concerning the righteousness which is in the law, blameless.

If anyone among the Jews had it all it was Saul! He was a learned man in the Law but his heart was wicked and dark as he was a persecutor of the church.

But there was a dramatic change in him. Acts 9 records for us that Saul was confronted by the Lord Jesus and Saul's life was forever changed. He no longer went by Saul but Paul. He was called that day by the Lord Jesus to work for Him, to write for Him, to live for Him and to help establish the church for Him. Paul was a called out one, a messenger for the Lord Jesus and this was because of the will of God. Paul thought that he was serving God, but in reality he was His enemy. God, however, had a different plan for him. He had a plan for him to be His messenger.

Now Paul's son in the faith, Timothy, was with him when he wrote this letter. And Paul addresses this letter to the saints and faithful brethren in Christ who are in Colosse. It was an established church that was filled with those who had come to faith in the Person and Work of the Lord Jesus Christ. They were saints; they were set apart like Paul according to the will of God. And they are described as faithful brethren. They understood the faithfulness of God toward them. After all, He was the One who saved them. Therefore, they exercised their faithfulness toward the Lord.

Now the salutation of the letter is this: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. What a great way to start a letter. It is really a prayer that God would grant to those saints and faithful brethren His grace and His peace. His grace is greater than all our sin. His peace is peace that passes all understanding. Paul is praying that God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ would grant this special grace and special peace to the Church of Colosse. Grace is seen in the fact that they are living and receiving this letter from the Apostle Paul. Peace is only found in the Lord Jesus.

From the Apostle Paul, greetings and salutations!