26 January 2025

Thinking On from Where We Came, Part 3 (TMF:2540)

Friday, January 31, 2025

Peace to Live By: Thinking On from Where We Came, Part 3 (TMF:2540) - Daniel Litton
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But what is important to understand is that the Israelites were miserable, suffering in slavery, and God brought them out of that. That’s the way it seems when we think back to consider our pre-conversion experiences. It seems dark, unfulfilling, empty, and perhaps labor-some. We worked with our own effort and without God’s power. But then one day God delivered us when he brought us to the true message of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. The revelation to our minds that we could be delivered from our dark, unfulfilling, empty, and labor-filled ways. In comparison, like the Israelites of old, we ended up in a new land, a land flowing with milk and honey. Now we move into the picture of Christ presented to us by Paul. It is probably familiar to us, as this is a passage we’ve likely read over and over. Starting in verse 15. Paul says of the “beloved Son:” “He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation” (ESV).

Thinking On from Where We Came, Part 2 (TMF:2539)

Thursday, January 30, 2025

Peace to Live By: Thinking On from Where We Came, Part 2 (TMF:2539) - Daniel Litton
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It is as Jesus stated in the great sermon, “For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same?”(Matthew 5:46, ESV). (Tax collectors represents the ones without Christ). So, it is kingdom versus kingdom. Satan’s kingdom versus Christ’s kingdom. God had “transferred us” as Paul said. From one side to the other side. A good picture of what this looks like is what happened with the Israelites in the Old Testament, when, remember, God delivered them from Pharaoh and the Egyptians and eventually took them to the land he had promised them. Of course, he used Moses to accomplish this act, and so Moses acts as a type of Christ. But what is important to understand is that the Israelites were miserable, suffering in slavery, and God brought them out of that. That’s the way it seems when we think back to consider our pre-conversion experiences. It seems dark, unfulfilling, empty, and perhaps labor-some.

Thinking On from Where We Came, Part 1 (TMF:2538)

Wednesday, January 29, 2025

Peace to Live By: Thinking On from Where We Came, Part 1 (TMF:2538) - Daniel Litton
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Anyhow, Paul elaborates, moving now to verse 13, in saying that “He [God] has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.” The past tense of the word is used in discussing our transformation—the word “delivered.” We have come then from the “domain of darkness,” the domain of Satan who entrapped us—the domain of our sin natures which had us in bondage to sin, to an understanding of the world without enlightenment from God. No power was present to live a truly righteous life. There could be moments of doing right, or seemingly so, but it would be intermingled with doing really bad things as well, whether publicity or privately, or just inside our heads. It is as Jesus stated in the great sermon, “For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same?”(Matthew 5:46, ESV). (Tax collectors represents the ones without Christ).

The Features of Our Inheritance (TMF:2537)

Tuesday, January 28, 2025

Peace to Live By: The Features of Our Inheritance (TMF:2537) - Daniel Litton
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Inheritance. What is the inheritance with the fellow saints, with those now and with those who have already passed? It is intriguing. If we turn back in our Bibles a couple books, to Paul’s Letter to the Ephesians, we see that there in chapter 1 he also talks about the inheritance of the saints. In verse 14 he says that it is something that is acquired in the future. In verse 18 he refers to the inheritance as having “riches,” and that it is “glorious” (ESV). It is also stated that it to be understood over a period of time. So, we could assume that with experience, with our journey through the Christian life, with the working out of our salvation, with all this comes understanding, understanding of the inheritance. And in contemplating that thought, it does seem to be experientially true. What is meant is that the personal understanding of what will be in the future after this life seems to be greater in scope versus what it was, say, twenty years ago. What it was right after the conversion experience.

Our Giving Thanks to God, Part 2 (TMF:2536)

Monday, January 27, 2025

Peace to Live By: Our Giving Thanks to God, Part 2 (TMF:2536) - Daniel Litton
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If we are a believer in Jesus Christ to begin with, it seems reasonable to presume we are thankful for the gift of salvation—for the gift of our relationship with God. After all, if it hadn’t been for what Jesus accomplished for us, we wouldn’t be in right relationship with God to begin with. This is the most important relationship and circumstance then, that we have to thankful for. Notice that the Colossians believers are said to be “qualified… to share in the inheritance of the saints in light.” If the Christians are now qualified, that means there was a point in which they were unqualified. A transition has occurred for them. A born again-ness (which was mentioned last week). Unqualified to qualified. What has been gained, though? What has the qualification led to? It has led the Christian to “share in the inheritance of the saints in light.” It would seem that this inheritance encompasses a vast variety of features, and they are features that the Apostle Paul presumably assumes that the Colossian believers are already aware of.