Sharing the Word

God’s redemptive action on behalf of those who would accept salvation had been in process since the beginning of the world. These actions express the thought and care that God takes for Christians’ salvation.

You have entered Christ’s life through baptism, Paul says. Accept this new life he has bestowed on you. He has paid up in your name whatever you may have owed to God.

Saint Paul accepts the sufferings that his ministry requires: filling up what is lacking in the afflictions of Christ. Christ’s followers must endure struggle for the advancement of Christ’s kingdom.

All Christian faith--the Colossians’, Paul’s, and ours--has a cosmic dimension. Rooted in Christ who is the source of all creation and the firstborn of all the dead, faith involves sharing universal reconciliation.

Before anything else Christ reflects the image of the invisible God. He is the model on which all creation--visible and invisible--is based.

What Paul asks for from God for the Colossians constitutes the agenda for every Christian life. God expects us all to grow and flourish in Christ's kingdom.