Colossians 1:9-14: a reflection

9For this cause, we also, since the day we heard this, don’t cease praying and making requests for you, that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, 10that you may walk worthily of the Lord, to please him in all respects, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God, 11strengthened with all power, according to the might of his glory, for all endurance and perseverance with joy, 12giving thanks to the Father, who made us fit to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light, 13who delivered us out of the power of darkness, and translated us into the Kingdom of the Son of his love, 14in whom we have our redemption, the forgiveness of our sins.

In his prayer for the Colossians, Paul gives thanks for what God has done for all who belong to Christ, and he describes it in vivid terms: God has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of our sins. A great transfer has taken place: from the realm of darkness into the kingdom of the Son, from bondage into redemption.

Notice the magnitude of what Paul describes: a transfer from one realm to another. Those who belong to Christ were once under the domain of darkness, in bondage to it; but God has rescued them out of it, and brought them into the kingdom of his beloved Son. This is not a minor adjustment, but a change of realm, of belonging, of citizenship, from darkness to the kingdom of the Son, from captivity to redemption and forgiveness. God has moved us from one kingdom to another.

That is a truth to live in with gratitude. If you belong to Christ, you are no longer under the domain of darkness; you have been rescued out of it and brought into the kingdom of God's beloved Son, where you have redemption and forgiveness. Your belonging, your citizenship, your realm has changed. Live, then, as one who has been transferred out of darkness into the kingdom of the Son. Do not live as though you still belonged to the darkness from which you were rescued; you belong now to Christ's kingdom, redeemed and forgiven. Give thanks, as Paul did, for so great a deliverance, and live in the light of the kingdom into which you have been brought, no longer a captive of darkness, but a citizen of the kingdom of God's beloved Son.

Lord, in his prayer for the Colossians, Paul gave thanks that you have delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of your beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of our sins. Help me live in that truth with gratitude. If I belong to Christ, I am no longer under the domain of darkness; you have rescued me out of it and brought me into the kingdom of your beloved Son, where I have redemption and forgiveness. This is not a minor adjustment, but a change of realm, of belonging, of citizenship, from darkness to the kingdom of the Son. Help me live as one who has been transferred out of darkness into that kingdom. Keep me from living as though I still belonged to the darkness from which I was rescued; I belong now to Christ's kingdom, redeemed and forgiven. Help me give thanks, as Paul did, for so great a deliverance, and live in the light of the kingdom into which you have brought me. Thank you for rescuing me from darkness into the kingdom of your Son.