Have you ever aced a test? When you got it back with a big 100 written at the top of the first page, it felt so good. When I was little I used to think that meant I knew it all and didn’t need to learn anything else about that subject. I was so naïve. All it meant was I knew everything the teacher asked. I thought of this while reading Colossians 2. Verse 10 says, “We are complete in Christ.” Complete. That’s a big 100. That means every character defect and every flaw has been corrected and every excellence developed.
How can this be? I still make mistakes, lots of them. I am a natural born sinner with selfish traits I have yet to discover. Yet I am complete in Christ. Paul, the self-proclaimed Pharisee of Pharisees, the law keeper of law keepers, through much pain and effort to be complete, finally discovered that no matter how hard he tried, there is only one way to completeness. It is “in Christ.”
Being “in Christ” does not mean we cease to be human. But we do cease to be only human. In II Peter 1 we are told we actually participate in the divine nature of Christ. This does not mean will stop making mistakes and sinning. We are saved. We are complete in Christ and under the cover of His love, grace and continued forgiveness we grow. The walk is not about never tripping and falling. The walk is about the goal, the direction, the progress and getting up. All the while we journey with Him we are complete. Awesome.
Written by Roger Bothwell on July 31, 2008.
Photo by Denys Nevozhai.
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