I have been so encouraged and challenged while working through Colossians in Study & Share this semester! It has always been Brian’s favorite book of the Bible and so each time I spend time in it I feel like I am getting to know him better as well 
Last week I had the privilege of teaching Study & Share on the passage Colossians 3:18-4:1. Now if you are familiar with the book you may realize immediately that this is the passage that lists several relationship “rules” - wives submit to your husbands, husbands love your wives, children obey your parents… Not an easy passage to cover in my mind, and sometimes not a popular one either. But I found my time there to be a real blessing!
In Colossians 1 Paul greets the Colossian church and then begins to tell them how amazing Jesus is! (He is the first born from the dead, He is preeminent and in Him all the fullness of diety dwells!!) Colossians 2 has that amazing passage on Christ’s work at Easter bringing us from death to life. (You who were dead in your trespasses…God made alive, canceling the record of debt, nailing it to the cross, setting it aside!) With Colossians 3 Paul explains how we are to live a life that is alive in Christ. If you are like me, even though you are alive in Christ there are times when we choose to live in the coffin. Paul tells us how to get out! (Put to death - slander, immorality, anger… put on - compassion, kindness, humility…) AND THEN comes the instructions for our personal relationships in the home. The Lord Jesus wants to affect every area of our lives, so that we might be fully alive in Christ!
Following the Lord’s instructions in our relationships, allowing Him to rule in our relationships is really choosing to trust Him and not ourselves. When we realize our ultimate faith and trust are in the Lord, it puts our earthly relationships into perspective.
I am not going to share everything I was encouraged by, I will save that for the pod cast. So check back if you would like to listen
If you have not done it recently, read all the way through Colossians in one sitting and soak it in! Seeing it in its entirety is GREAT!
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