| What does it mean to live a full life? Often, that’s an expression we hear when someone passes away. “They lived a full life,” we remind ourselves. It becomes a way to offer comfort and celebrate someone’s memory. The full life we attribute to people includes their accomplishments. Those can be professional or personal. Then again, for some, a full life illustrates their approach to every day. They carpe diemed quite a bit. Adventure, excitement and attitude are normal ways to identify a full life. But what about faith? Our walk with God? Can that add to our fullness? Our faith tells us it is the fullness of our life! Well, more to the point, our fullness is Jesus. As I read our passage from Colossians 2 today, I couldn’t help but notice how active, full it was. For those who may think faith is a docile or lackluster element of life, read that passage again. The Colossians were to do quite a bit. Continue living lives in Christ, being rooted and established in faith. Abound in thanksgiving. Guard your minds against empty deceit. Taking their faith to be our own, like them we were circumcised with a spiritual circumcision. All this, of course, is through God’s power. And God’s actions become more pronounced. God buried us at our baptism. The power of God then raised us, made us alive. God forgave us, erased our shortcomings. By sending Jesus to the cross, the Lord “disarmed the rulers and authorities” and triumphed over them. That’s all quite a bit to take in. It’s a full slate of holy action. So, let’s be clear. Christ is our fullness of life. In him, we share abundant life. As we learn to live in faith, our lives are filled with God’s glory. Many of us want to fill our lives with so much. So, we aspire to do and become more. Great. But do we forget to include living in the reality of God’s kingdom and focusing on following Christ? Let me expand that and be blunt. Don’t include God in your life. Center your life around God. We’ve seen how full God’s activities are. That tells me we’ll never have the fullness of life God intended for us if we merely include or sprinkle faith over the rest of our lives. To live a full life means to accept the reality of God’s presence with us. To live for God’s glory each day. And to follow the holy actions of Jesus. Stay blessed…john |
John Fletcher
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