March through Colossians - wrapping up

Well, if you have been a participant in our march through Colossians this past month, I do hope that it has been fruitful for you. It was somewhat of an experiment, and I can confidently say that it’s something that I’d like to do again soon with another book of the Bible, perhaps this summer. I'm thankful that we all had the opportunity to increase our knowledge of Scripture, and my hope is that it also found its way into your heart and life. I’ll be posting things here and there on this blog, and eventually I'll mention plans for doing another book of the Bible, so stay tuned! If this systematic way of reading Scripture has helped you, let me encourage you to continue in it. I’m a fan of Bible reading plans, rightly used, and I commend your use of them. It takes the guesswork out of your Bible reading and gets you into parts of Scripture you wouldn’t normally be drawn to. For a great post on resources for Bible reading, check out this link (to Justin Taylor’s blog). All 13 of Paul’s epistles (including other books in the New Testament) end on the note of grace (“Grace be with you,” 4:18). Surely this says something about the centrality of grace in Paul’s understanding of our lives as believers. Picture yourself as the apostle Paul, sitting in a room, wrapping up this letter to the church in Colossae. You write the first part of verse 18 (“I, Paul, write this greeting with my own hand. Remember my chains.”). What will you say next to close out the letter? What final note will you strike? For Paul, the answer was clear and consistent: the grace of almighty God at work in the lives of His people. Grace is what gives us hope and joy, because it is by grace and because of grace that we are able to have fellowship with the living God, through the person and work of Jesus. The whole reason why we are able to know and to fulfill our chief end, to glorify God and to enjoy Him forever, is because the grace of God is with us. The grace of God is with you right now, and will be with you today. So, let Paul’s final note resound in your whole being today. You have new life in Christ; grace be with you!