Standing Firm In Christ! -Babatunde Olugboji
In this day and age when things seem to be falling apart at the seams, have you thought about what to do, who to turn to, where to go?
There is only one sure way of standing firm and not being stuck in a rut: living our life for Christ. Afterall, it was God the father who brought us out of a horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set our feet upon a solid rock and established our goings (Psalm 40:2).
Daily we are inundated with some form of horrible news or the other, on TV or social media: kidnappings for ransom, abductions, shootings, hunger, lack, brothers killing brothers, family turning against one another, elected officials stealing public funds, nations fighting against nations, Covid-19 ravaging the nations of the world, rich nations hoarding vaccines, the poor getting poorer and the rich getting insanely richer.
Many people across the globe are unemployed or underemployed, highly qualified individuals struggling to find jobs, while the crime rate continues to head north. What do we do at times like these? The question appears complicated, but the answer is simple: we can find hope in Christ. (Col. 1:27). In all these things, one thing that is certain is that the love of Christ gives us hope.
That’s why Apostle Paul said in Colossians 2, that as we have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, we should walk in him. This is a wonderful rule for Christian living.
‘So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live your lives in him, rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness. See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the elemental spiritual forces[a] of this world rather than on Christ.’ (Col. 2:6-8)
So, to walk in Him, or to continue to live our lives in Christ, we must be rooted and built up. Here, Paul used a curious combination of metaphors. As Christians, we walk, but we are also rooted, and we are also built up. The metaphors are somewhat mixed, but the message is clear: be established in Christ and keep growing in your faith.
This double metaphor, taken partly from the growth of a tree and the increase of a building is very instructive as we navigate our world today. Paul was saying that we are to be rooted; as the good seed of the gospel has been already sown in our heart, it is to take root, and the roots are to spread far, wide, and deep. Beyond whatever may be going on around us.
Like the Colossians, we are to be grounded and rooted in Christ. At these times, the solution is to get closer to the one who has rescued us and drawn us to himself from the dominion of darkness and has transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. (Col. 1:13-14).
This week, will you ask the Holy Spirit to fire up your faith in God?
Have a great week!
Kingdom Dynamics, a weekly column is written by Dr. Babatunde Olugboji, the President, Kingdom House, a non-profit organization in New Jersey, USA.
