In Colossians 2:1, Paul expresses his concern for the Colossians and the Laodiceans. He has never met them but is deeply concerned about their spiritual welfare. He actually says he’s concerned for all those he has not met. He had never met you and me either. But, being driven along by the Holy Spirit as he wrote, I see God addressing us today in Paul’s words as well. We are part of the believing community that Paul was anxious about or concerned for, even though he never met us. We face the same struggles and temptations every generation of Christians has faced.
Paul was concerned that the false teachings, the Siren Songs that were so prominent in the world, would turn our attention away from the centrality of Christ in our lives. True disciples of Christ focus on three very important things. 1) Loving. In Verse 2, Paul prays that “…their hearts may be encouraged, being knit together in love.” Loving God and others was the most important instruction from Jesus. Distractions dilute our attention away from Christ and damage our loving unity. Therefore, Paul insists we keep 2) Learning about Christ so we will “reach all the riches of the full assurance of understanding and the knowledge of God’s mystery, which is Christ.” Additionally, Loving and learning will result in 3) Living. Verse 3 goes on to say that it’s only in Christ that true value, purpose, and meaning of life are found. He calls it the “treasure.” He says that it’s only in Christ that we find all the hidden “treasures of wisdom and knowledge.”
If Jesus has all the “wisdom and Knowledge” that there is, we must see that there is no knowledge that has ever been investigated or ascertained, which is not already comprehended in the knowledge that is in Christ. We certainly live in a wonderful age of knowledge. Time would fail to tell of the advances that have been made in innumerable fields of research. Especially today when we are teaching computers to think on their own. Artificial intelligence is always going to be artificial. Human intelligence is always going to be human. But Jesus’ intelligence is divine. But in the last analysis, when we have gathered up all the treasures of knowledge, we find that we are only “thinking God’s thoughts after Him.” All knowledge is in the One who declared, “I am … the truth” (John 14:6).
In Christ, we have all we need! God’s love is immense and irresistible. We have God’s love when we accept Christ. In Christ, we can return God’s love both to Him and extend it to others. As we learn more and more about God’s love as revealed in Christ, our love grows. When love grows, lives change. Antoine de Saint-Exupery was quoted in the LA Times as saying. “If you want to build a ship, don’t drum up the people to collect wood and don’t assign them tasks and work, but rather teach them to long for the endless immensity of the sea.”