In Christ You Are Qualified by God

"May you be strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy, giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in light." (Colossians 1:11-12 ESV)

Power, endurance and joy? Sign me up! Who doesn't want those things. And it is all according to Jesus' glorious might. These are entry-level things. But do I get that God the Father has qualified me?

Are you sure it isn't my work and perseverance that secures my place in eternity? If not that, then surely it is my work that moves me up the ladder of reward in Heaven, right? Well no, on both accounts.

It is the Father who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints of light. It was not your perfection or obedience but instead because of Christ's perfection and obedience that God qualifies you to inherit what Jesus has. This is the reward for the ultimate of work, but work done by another.

We don't like it. We want to earn something. After all, it is good to have goals and things to gain on merit. Not when it comes to our union with Christ. "It is finished" has much broader implications than you first thought. Let's rest in that qualification and relax a little. Stop trying to earn something you never could in the first place. Instead worship and give thanks that you have been qualified. A life of thanksgiving. Celebration at this truth.

I want to be thankful, and I bet you do too. Let this truth that you are not the qualifying agent, God the Father has qualified you, sink deep. Live in this.

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