"I'm filling up what's lacking in Christ's afflictions." Um, seriously?
Paul is joining in the work of Jesus, filling up what is lacking in Christ's afflictions, and carrying both the life and death of Jesus in his own body everywhere he goes. And beyond Paul's claim that he can help Jesus with His work, he goes on to show throughout the rest of Colossians that we can too.
48 Reasons to Worship Jesus this Christmas
God becoming human is the central fact of the history of the world—if that’s the case, there are infinitely many reasons we could list to give thanks for it. Here are 48 of them to start off your Christmas right.
Jesus as a Voodoo Doll: How His Self-Transformation Affects Us
Over and over, I'm tempted to run from Jesus. Sure He's forgiving. Sure He's merciful. Sure He died for my sins. But I'm tempted to run from Him because I forget that it's in Him that all my transformation takes place. I forget that I don't have to clean myself up before coming back to Him. I forget that He's the one that cleans me up by cleaning Himself up even when He didn't need cleaning up.
Entering into God's Presence
It's easy to take the fact that we have access to God for granted, but it's a relatively new phenomenon in the history of the world and one that is overwhelmingly good. Because of Christ's sacrifice we can now confidently enter into God's presence, having God's acceptance and pleasure because of His acceptance of and pleasure in Christ.