Colossians 2:9-10 Our Foibles and His Fullness

Colossians 2:9-10 "For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form, and you have been given fullness in Christ, who is the head over every power and authority,"

Have you ever had a day, or week, or month, or longer where you have trouble seeing that you are truly walking with Christ and becoming more like Him? Have you ever had trouble with the idea that we are supposed to be "little Christs" since you know your own life oh-so-very-well and it falls oh-so-very-short? Do you sometimes find that you know that there is good that you want to do, but you find that your body is intent on sin and you have trouble resisting?  Have you found yourself having trouble internalizing the idea that you are a child of the Most High and an adopted co-heir with Christ? 

If any of these questions seems to have described you at one point, then you are no different from any Christian who has ever lived.  You are normal.  All of us have these issues at least once, if not constantly, running through our minds. These doubts and thoughts don't mean that you are not a Christian and a Follower of Christ, but that you are human.  We are human and fully human, the fullness of humanity runs through us and is us. Fullness, of course, is the totality of being with all the attributes, powers, qualities, foils, and faults of that being.

Jesus was the physical embodiment of the fullness of God, He had all the attributes, power, authority, qualities, and majesty of God.  Because He has that authority and power, He has granted us the ability to share in His fullness, the fullness of Christ. In essence, while we as fallen and sinful people have lived in the fullness of humanity and the world, and our bodies are most definitely full of the fullness of mankind, spiritually God is filling us, slowly, surely, and certainly with His fullness. It takes time because we are human.

None of us are capable of even holding the fullness of God, but God is changing that in our lives. He is making us able and although you may not see it and you may not see how God is imbuing your life with Himself, others are. They see the changes in your life. They see the differences between what you were and what you have become, and what you are becoming. We don't see the gentle and subtle workings of God, much like clay doesn't realize that with all the pressures being placed on it while spinning around and around and around it is being formed into a pot. All the clay knows is that it can't seem to hold itself together, just like you and I. In the end, Christ's fullness will be made manifest in us, but we will most likely be the last to see it.

This week, lets take heart that we are not alone in our fears and doubts. Let us also remember that we are still being molded and formed and remade into a proper receptacle for Christ's essence and attributes - His fullness. You are indeed becoming more like Christ, you just don't see it yet. You are a co-heir of Christ, fully adopted into God's family. You are His beloved child. Take heart!

Complete in Thee! No work of mine
May take, dear Lord, the place of Thine;
Thy blood hath pardon bought for me,
And I am now complete in Thee.
                                        Aaron R. Wolfe, 1851