09/09/21
Jim Martin
6 As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, continue to live your lives in him, 7 rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving. 8 See to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the universe, and not according to Christ. 9 For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily, 10 and you have come to fullness in him, who is the head of every ruler and authority. 11 In him also you were circumcised with a spiritual circumcision, by putting off the body of the flesh in the circumcision of Christ; 12 when you were buried with him in baptism, you were also raised with him through faith in the power of God, who raised him from the dead. 13 And when you were dead in trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made you alive together with him, when he forgave us all our trespasses,
14 erasing the record that stood against us with its legal demands. He set this aside, nailing it to the cross. 15 He disarmed the rulers and authorities and made a public example of them, triumphing over them in it (Colossians 2:6-15).
The praise hymn, Wood and Nails, written by Keith Watts, Isaac Wardell, and Madison Cunningham and performed by The Porter’s Gate begins with these words:
O humble carpenter, down on Your hands and knees
Look on Your handiwork and build a house
So you may dwell in me
So you may dwell in me
The work was done with nothing but
Wood and nails in Your scar-borne hands
Show me how to work and praise
Trusting that I am your instrument
Paul implores us that as we have received Christ Jesus to “continue to live [our lives] in him.” It is through the work of the cross we are indeed “rooted and built up in him and established in the faith.” This month, as September is a month of beginnings of sorts in our culture, let us ponder the wonder of Christ’s love and sacrifice and consider how “God made [each of us] alive together with him, when he forgave us all our trespasses.” O humble carpenter, down on Your hands and knees, look on me and build a house within me, so you may dwell in me.
Much has transpired this past month to challenge us and perhaps our relationship with Christ. Hurricane Ida has ripped property and lives apart. Covid has increased to record levels. Tragic loss of life, fear, and strife in Afghanistan. Rising crises on our border witnessing to human suffering. Wood and Nails lyrics continue:
O loving laborer with the sweat upon Your face
Oh, build a table that I may too may join You
In the Father’s place
Oh, in the Father’s place
The work was done with nothing but
Wood and nails in Your scar-borne hands
Show me how to work and praise
Trusting that I am your instrument
May this be your prayer, our prayer: “Lord Jesus, make me your instrument. Show me in whatever capacity that I have to work and praise to assist those who have suffered loss and / or are displaced by the cruelty of nature or human hands. Let me be your instrument to see your will done on earth as it is in heaven. Amen.
In Christ,
+ Pastor Jim