The Three “R’s” of Faith, Part 2.

Read again that wonderful promise found in Colossians 1:

Colossians 1:11–14 (NIV84)

¹¹ being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, and joyfully ¹² giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of light. ¹³ For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, ¹⁴ in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.

By the grace of God, we were relocated “into the kingdom of the Son he loves”. (Colossians 1:13). The word used in the NIV is brought; this word means that we were transferred from one condition to an opposing condition. What that means is we were brought from a condition of being alienated from God, to being participants in Christ’s kingdom.

Christ’s kingdom has benefits; some are described for us in Psalm 103:

Psalm 103:3–17 (NIV84)

³ who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases, ⁴ who redeems your life from the pit and crowns you with love and compassion, ⁵ who satisfies your desires with good things so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s. ⁶ The Lord works righteousness and justice for all the oppressed. ⁷ He made known his ways to Moses, his deeds to the people of Israel: ⁸ The Lord is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love. ⁹ He will not always accuse, nor will he harbor his anger forever; ¹⁰ he does not treat us as our sins deserve or repay us according to our iniquities. ¹¹ For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his love for those who fear him; ¹² as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us. ¹³ As a father has compassion on his children, so the Lord has compassion on those who fear him; ¹⁴ for he knows how we are formed, he remembers that we are dust. ¹⁵ As for man, his days are like grass, he flourishes like a flower of the field; ¹⁶ the wind blows over it and it is gone, and its place remembers it no more. ¹⁷ But from everlasting to everlasting the Lord’s love is with those who fear him, and his righteousness with their children’s children—

Think about that for a moment, God has already transferred you into the Kingdom of Christ; the one He loves. In Christ, you are in a position of privilege and a condition of grace.

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