In Colossians 1:1-8, The Holy Bible tells us that all true Christians are ‘brethren,’ or brothers and sisters to one another. In this family relationship, faithfulness is not just central to the Christian character, but also central to the Christian life, in every aspect. Indeed, one may say that faith, hope and love comprise the three principal graces of the Christian life and worthy of ongoing appreciation to the Giver, in both our prayers and in our thanksgivings.

When we live and abide in these three graces, we find we are blessed in a truly supernatural way. When we fix our hopes on the rewards of eternal life and work toward that, and we, as Jesus said in Matthew 6:20, “lay up treasures in Heaven for yourselves, where neither moth nor rust corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal,” then we find we are more free in doing good with our earthly treasurers.

The reason for this is that the Gospel of Jesus Christ is God’s word of absolute truth and upon this truth, we may stand. ‘Stand,’ here meaning; to maintain; to defend; to support; not to desert. It means we take a position on God’s truth and we defend it. Once we do that, we are able to safely risk our souls on the word of God and trust in Him for our lives and blessings in this world.

Indeed, all who hear the Word of truth of the Lord in his Gospel, ought to bring it forth to fruitfulness; ought to obey it; ought to lives their lives in accordance with it and ought to pass this blessing to others.

The difference between the worldly love and the transformed Christian love is that the worldly love is based on carnal love and a selfish appetite of pleasure. Christian love, on the other hand, arises from the Holy Spirit who dwells within us and is full of holiness. It is the Holy Spirit who transforms and leads us to display godly characteristics and blessings that which previously, we could not even imagine.

The Apostle Paul continues in Colossians 1:16-22 confirming the position of Jesus as central to all things for the Christian:

“¹⁶For all things were created in Him, the things in the heavens, and the things on the earth, the visible and the invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers, all things were created through Him and for Him.
¹⁷And He is before all things, and by Him all things consist.
¹⁸And He is the Head of the body, the church, who is the Beginning, the First-born from the dead, that He may be pre-eminent in all things.
¹⁹For it pleased the Father that in Him all fullness should dwell. ²⁰And through Him having made peace through the blood of His cross, it pleased the Father to reconcile all things to Himself through Him, whether the things on earth or the things in Heaven.
²¹And you, who were once alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now He has reconciled ²²in the body of His flesh through death, to present you holy and without blemish, and without charge in His sight, ²³if indeed you continue in the faith grounded and settled, and are not moved away from the hope of the gospel, which you have heard and which was proclaimed in all the creation under Heaven, of which I, Paul, became a minister.”

But notice here in verse 22 here, Paul outlines the most amazing blessing for Christians. The Good News Bible translates it as:

“But now, by means of the physical death of his Son, God has made you his friends, in order to bring you, holy, pure, and faultless, into his presence.”

The Amplified Bible puts it this way:

“Yet now has [Christ, the Messiah] reconciled [you to God] in the body of His flesh through death, in order to present you holy and faultless and irreproachable in His [the Father’s] presence.”

The blessing to which Paul refers in v22, and which is given to all born-again Christians, is that we are reconciled to God through Jesus. Further, this means that we can present ourselves holy, pure, faultless and beyond reproach (criticism) before God the Father. It simply does not come much better than that!

However, when we continue to read on into v23, we find that there are four conditions which we need to meet and comply with, such that the Blessing will remain ours:

1 Continue in the faith.

This will be the case if you, who have already believed in Christ Jesus, continue in that faith. If we lose faith, we ergo, automatically and certainly, lose the blessing.

2 Continue grounded in the faith.

This will be the case if you continue to be grounded in the knowledge and love of God.

3 Continue settled in the faith.

This will be the case if you continue to be settled in the faith. Settled here means placed; established; determined; composed; adjusted. It means steadfast and resolute. It means we must not waver, or be diverted. We must continue with an inner peace.

4 Do not be moved away from hope.

We must not permit ourselves to be seduced by false teachers. We must be made firm and perseveringly steadfast, in that state of salvation.

The resurrection of the body, and the glorification of it and the soul together, in the realms of blessedness, is the Blessing we have received as a Christian. This is properly the Gospel of Hope.

We just need to live our lives, such that we retain that blessing and Colossians 1:22 tells us how.

Amen and Amen.