Most of us seek a life that has significance.  We desire to be confident in what we think, say, and do.  We want our lives to count for something good.  We avoid people who think we are worthless in their eyes, count for nothing, and up to no good.  If we fall for that line of thinking, we become self-fulfilling prophecies of insignificance.  If we pause to ponder for a bit, we realize we crave a life of substance.  If fact, most people in our world are after the same goal—substance with a firm foundation.

Paul’s letter gave tribute to the power and glory of Christ. While commending the Colossians for their actions, he reminded them that Christ’s power comes not from what we know, but who we know—Jesus Christ.  Jesus is the very substance of life we have been seeking because He is the Source of Life eternal.  There is no other foundation upon which we can build a life of substance that lasts for eternity!

Colossians 2, The Message

I want you to realize that I continue to work as hard as I know how for you, and also for the Christians over at Laodicea. Not many of you have met me face-to-face, but that doesn’t make any difference. Know that I’m on your side, right alongside you. You’re not in this alone.

^2-4 I want you woven into a tapestry of love, in touch with everything there is to know of God. Then you will have minds confident and at rest, focused on Christ, God’s great mystery. All the richest treasures of wisdom and knowledge are embedded in that mystery and nowhere else. And we’ve been shown the mystery! I’m telling you this because I don’t want anyone leading you off on some wild-goose chase, after other so-called mysteries, or “the Secret.”

⁵ I’m a long way off, true, and you may never lay eyes on me, but believe me, I’m on your side, right beside you. I am delighted to hear of the careful and orderly ways you conduct your affairs, and impressed with the solid substance of your faith in Christ.

From the Shadows to the Substance

^6-7 My counsel for you is simple and straightforward: Just go ahead with what you’ve been given. You received Christ Jesus, the Master; now live him. You’re deeply rooted in him. You’re well constructed upon him. You know your way around the faith. Now do what you’ve been taught. School’s out; quit studying the subject and start living it! And let your living spill over into thanksgiving.

^8-10 Watch out for people who try to dazzle you with big words and intellectual double-talk. They want to drag you off into endless arguments that never amount to anything. They spread their ideas through the empty traditions of human beings and the empty superstitions of spirit beings. But that’s not the way of Christ. Everything of God gets expressed in him, so you can see and hear him clearly. You don’t need a telescope, a microscope, or a horoscope to realize the fullness of Christ, and the emptiness of the universe without him. When you come to him, that fullness comes together for you, too. His power extends over everything.

^11-15 Entering into this fullness is not something you figure out or achieve. It’s not a matter of being circumcised or keeping a long list of laws. No, you’re already in—insiders—not through some secretive initiation rite but rather through what Christ has already gone through for you, destroying the power of sin. If it’s an initiation ritual you’re after, you’ve already been through it by submitting to baptism. Going under the water was a burial of your old life; coming up out of it was a resurrection, God raising you from the dead as he did Christ. When you were stuck in your old sin-dead life, you were incapable of responding to God. God brought you alive—right along with Christ! Think of it! All sins forgiven, the slate wiped clean, that old arrest warrant canceled and nailed to Christ’s cross. He stripped all the spiritual tyrants in the universe of their sham authority at the Cross and marched them naked through the streets.

^16-17 So don’t put up with anyone pressuring you in details of diet, worship services, or holy days. All those things are mere shadows cast before what was to come; the substance is Christ.

^18-19 Don’t tolerate people who try to run your life, ordering you to bow and scrape, insisting that you join their obsession with angels and that you seek out visions. They’re a lot of hot air, that’s all they are. They’re completely out of touch with the source of life, Christ, who puts us together in one piece, whose very breath and blood flow through us. He is the Head and we are the body. We can grow up healthy in God only as he nourishes us.

^20-23 So, then, if with Christ you’ve put all that puffed-up and childish religion behind you, why do you let yourselves be bullied by it? “Don’t touch this! Don’t taste that! Don’t go near this!” Do you think things that are here today and gone tomorrow are worth that kind of attention? Such things sound impressive if said in a deep enough voice. They even give the illusion of being pious and humble and austere. But they’re just another way of showing off, making yourselves look important.

WHAT DO WE LEARN—HOW DO WE RESPOND?

Jesus Christ is the Source of Life and Foundation of our faith. 

God’s Holy Spirit provides the Substance for who we are in Christ.  Substance defined in science is the “particular kinds of matter with uniform properties” in everything.  Substance is the real physical matter of which a person or thing consists and which has a tangible, solid presence.  The substance of our existence in Christ is expressed in our behaviors as we become more and more like Christ.  We’re not in this alone.  We have the power of God’s Holy Spirit, the same power that raised Jesus from death to life! 

Pause to prayerfully ask, “Lord, what am I made of and who is providing the substance of my being?”  Am I trying to live a life of substance without you—relying on my own very limited power?

Paul teaches us today to know God by focusing on His Son, Jesus, who is the Source of eternal Life.  “…Be woven into the tapestry of God’s love, in touch with everything there is to know of God. Then you will have minds confident and at rest, focused on Christ,” the one and only perfect sacrifice for all the sins of the world.  All sins removed. Forever.  God provides salvation for anyone who will take it. God doesn’t require that we know hidden secrets or certain inside information to accept Christ’s message and enjoy eternal life.  “Be still and know that I am God” the Psalmist proclaims.  (Psalm 46:10) 

The focus of our belief: “God brought you alive—right along with Christ! Think of it! All sins forgiven, the slate wiped clean, that old arrest warrant canceled and nailed to Christ’s cross.” 

The focus of our faith: “You received Christ Jesus, the Master; now live him.”  To live Jesus is to be guided by His Holy Spirit who give substance to our faith in Him.  To live Jesus begins with grateful hearts of praise for what He did for us on the cross coupled with minds of humbled reverence for the One who now sits on the throne of God.  All things come under Him who rose again, defeating death, to give us Hope of life forever with Him who believe and call on His Name.   

Jesus is the Source and Substance of Life for all who believe. Believe and be saved from sins.  Believe in the One who knows your Name and loved you before you born. Many distractions surround us, even religious ones or church-centered activities. The center of our faith, however, should always be Jesus Christ.

“Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” Hebrews 11:1, KJV

Lord,

You are the source and substance of our new life being formed by You.  I want to live for you with your power helping me.  I seek a life of substance from the Source of life eternal! I am grateful, oh so very grateful, for the removal of all my sins because of your love for me and others who believe.  Keep us focused on you all day long and into the night as we rely on you hour by hour, day by day until we see you face to face.  You are the Substance of my faith and my Source of Hope.

In Jesus Name, Amen