Living in God's Grace

 “Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving.”

(Colossians 2:6–7 ESV)

We tend to believe that receiving Jesus is a one time event. We tend to think that we come to faith in Jesus at one point in life. And, after we receive him, after we come to faith in him, we seem to think that nothing else matters.

Some of us may have heard the gospel and responded to an altar call. We may have encountered the gospel and prayed the sinner’s prayer. And we remember this day, we mark this day, as the day we came to faith.

In the Lutheran tradition, we may have been baptized as a baby or a small child. And we think of this day in the same way. We consider this as the day we came to faith. We consider this day as the point in which we entered into the blessing of God.

However, after this day has come and gone, we do as we please. We live as we please. And we don’t believe that it matters in the least.

We don’t think it matters because, on that one day in the past, we came to faith. We don’t think it matters because, on that one day in the past, we received the gospel. We don’t think it matters because, on that one day in the past, we were saved.

But, in the above passage, we see that receiving Jesus is not just a one time event. We find that it’s ongoing. Paul tells us that, as we received Jesus the Lord, we’re to walk in him.

This phrase indicates that our faith is to be an everyday part of our life. It indicates that it’s a continuing state. It indicates that it’s something to which we hold each moment of every day.

Paul tells us that we’re to be rooted in Jesus. He tells us that we’re to be built up in him. He tells us that we’re to be established in the faith. And this, again, indicates something more than a one time event.

We not only come to faith in Jesus, but we’re established in that faith. We grow in that faith. And we become firm in that faith. 

Even though these events in the past are important, and although they shouldn’t be disregarded, there is something more involved. We must not only ask when we came to faith in Jesus, but if we trust in him now. We must ask not only when we first received the promise of God, but if we’re now living in that promise.