Read the transcript from today's video devotional.
Are you a runner? I just have the greatest respect for runners—I find them to be so self-disciplined. Give me a ball sport and I love running, but for some reason I have a difficult time just running on my own. I don't know if you're with me, or if you're one of those runners. But there was a time when a marathon took place in the Quad City area in Moline, Illinois. Imagine leading up to a marathon—all of the discipline, the prep, the constant running, the eating right, all that goes into being prepared to run a marathon. I can run across the street, but a marathon? Whoo! That would take a lot of training to be prepared for that moment.
The Wrong Path
Well, the marathon started, and over halfway through, the two front runners were way out in front of the next person—the person in third place was far behind them. But the two front runners, instead of following the course they were supposed to be on, actually followed a volunteer on a bicycle that they thought was leading the way. Because of that, they were disqualified, and the person who was way further back actually won the marathon. When asked why they didn't go the same direction as the other two runners, that person said, "I thought the main path was clearly marked. We knew ahead of time where it was, and I just followed the directions of where I was supposed to go."
Our Verse of the Day today is so impactful for life with that type of illustration—a real-life situation of a marathon, of following the wrong path.
Colossians chapter 2, verse 6 is our Verse of the Day, and this is what it says: "And now, just as you accepted Christ Jesus as your Lord, you must continue to follow Him."
Savior and Lord
What a powerful verse. I love how Paul says to the church of Colossae, "And now, just as you accepted Christ Jesus as your Lord." A lot of us accept Jesus Christ as our Savior—we want to be saved for eternity—but we may not have ever actually surrendered to Him as Lord. What Paul is talking to this church about is that they did surrender their life to Jesus as Lord, saying, "Whatever you want." But he's reminding them that at some point—and that's why it's so important to focus on who you are following—even though you recognize Jesus as your Lord, it's easy to get off course and start following a person or something else that's impactful in your life. Instead of maintaining this passion and desire to follow Jesus. It is so easy for this to happen in our Christian circles, because we start elevating those in our life. It could be a pastor, a missionary, another spiritual leader. It could be friends who we look at as more spiritual than we are. We start to follow them and what they think, instead of just getting into the Word of God and following Jesus.
Let Your Roots Grow Down into Him
That's why it's important to look at the context of what Paul is saying. In fact, in the verse that follows, it says, "Let your roots grow down into him, into Jesus, and let your lives be built on Him." Two very distinct images—roots and a foundation—both of which are so significant. It's like the two runners getting off course and being disqualified. Let your roots grow down. Everything above the surface you can prune—you can tell things are going off course and correct them. But your roots? If we allow our roots to grow into another individual outside of Jesus, we can be disappointed, and it will shake us to our core and could potentially get us off course with theology and doctrine.
Christian Followers vs. Jesus Followers
It's such a great reminder to make sure we're following Jesus. I would even encourage you to consider this: a lot of times we can be Christian followers and not necessarily Jesus followers. Now hear me out. Christians were called Christians first in Antioch, according to the Book of Acts, not because they called themselves Christians, but because other people recognized them as Jesus followers. So they called them Christians. In our world today, we have developed these patterns of saying, this is what a Christian should look like. We start trying to pattern our behavior after being a Christian, instead of being a true, authentic Jesus follower—letting our roots grow down into Him so that we will never be supplanted, because He is our soil.
As Paul said about being built up on Jesus—He is our foundation. I would just encourage you to take a step back today. You may have accepted Jesus Christ as your Savior, but is He the Lord of your life? Even if you've made Him Lord of your life in the past, have you gotten off course—where now all of a sudden you've started following this teaching, or this person, or this way, instead of getting back to the Word of God and saying, I need to passionately follow my Savior, my Lord? I would encourage you to take some time and reflect on that today. Are you following Jesus passionately today?