Creator, Father, King #306

This same Good News that came to you is going out all over the world. It is bearing fruit everywhere by changing lives, just as it changed your lives from the day you first heard and understood the truth about God’s wonderful grace.

BEING A CHRISTIAN IN the first century AD was really hard.

Converting to Christianity often meant being ostracized by family and friends. Sometimes it meant being persecuted or killed. What’s more, first-century believers didn’t have anywhere close to the luxuries that we enjoy today. They often worshiped each Sunday in people’s homes, sometimes to avoid detection from the authorities. Prior to a formalized New Testament canon, they had to rely strictly on faith, the apostles’ teaching (oral and written), and the Old Testament. Most orthodox Jews wanted to squash Christianity, and most Gentiles thought it was a kooky sect of Judaism.

Can you see how first-century Christians might have needed a little encouragement to persevere in the faith? That’s exactly why the apostle Paul wrote today’s verse to the young believers in Colossae.

What’s It Mean?

If you’re a Christian, do you ever feel like you’re spiritually alone, like you’re marooned on an island all by yourself?

Satan loves to make us feel isolated and rejected: Why do you call yourself a Christian? Why do you follow Jesus? Why do you believe the Bible? Nobody else does. Don’t fall for his diabolical deception.

Rather, take heart! Today’s Scripture was meant for you.

If you’re a Christian, you’re part of “the church”—the thriving worldwide “body of Christ” (1 Corinthians 12:27, ESV), those who have trusted in Jesus as their Lord and Savior. There are millions of true believers around the world whom God has called to be his children.

This should greatly encourage you! You are not alone or part of a dying movement. You are among a powerful, living faith that the Lord God started and sustains by his unassailable power (Matthew 16:18).

Then, one day in heaven, you will lift your voice with every other saint in history to fulfill the apostle John’s glorious vision in Revelation 19:6-7:

I heard again what sounded like the shout of a vast crowd or the roar of mighty ocean waves or the crash of loud thunder: “Praise the LORD! For the Lord our God, the Almighty, reigns. Let us be glad and rejoice, and let us give honor to him.”

Now What?

If you don’t belong to a local gospel-centered church, make that a priority! You don’t have to walk alone.

Did You Know?

Jesus said the gospel must be preached in every nation before he returns (Matthew 24:14). How can you advance this mission?