In Him—the Only Way to Victory!

"As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him, rooted and built up in Him and established in the faith, as you have been taught, abounding in it with thanksgiving. Beware lest anyone cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit, according to the tradition of men, according to the basic principles of the world, and not according to Christ."
Col 2:6 - 8

As you have received him.  Who?  Christ Jesus, the Lord.

He is the Christ.  This is the Prophet that Moses said that God would send, the One that we should make sure to listen to and carefully heed all He says.  He is the One that would reveal the whole will and counsel of God to us humans.

He is Jesus for He will save His people from their sins.  That is, He is Savior.  He is the Lamb of God that "taketh away the sins of the world"!  He gave His life in ransom for us; we owe Him everything!

But He is also LORD!  That is, He is KING, Ruler, Master and Law-Giver.  If we start on this road of Christianity, we receive this Second Member of the Godhead not only as Christ and Savior, but also as LORD.  There is no "OR" in this list.  There is no separation of His offices so that you can pick and chose as though it is a buffet style eatery.  No, it is all or none.

As since you started that way, continue on.  Live in Him.  Walk in Him.  Have all your life's activities "in Him" so that

• He is at the center
• He is directing all
• you do all with reference to Him and for His Glory.

But notice that as you walk in Him—live in Him—you become more rooted and that allows you to be more built up.  Built up can only happen after rooting deep into Him.  But this also work so that you walk more closely with and in Him.  And that causes you to be more rooted and built up.

A win-win situation.

It also helps you from being cheated (New KJV) or spoiled (KJV) or taken captive (NIV) by hollow, vain, deceitful philosophies and traditions.

But take a closer look at the whole of Colossians.  Paul says that he works hard and struggles: Col. 1:24; 2:1.  And Epaphras works hard, struggles and wrestles in prayer: Col 4:12 - 13.  Here, Paul is telling the Colossians to buck up, put their armor on and struggle, work hard and walk this road with Christ and the other Christians so that they are not taken captive as spoils of war.

We are in a war.  We cannot opt out.  The devil and his cohorts have arrows marked with our names already written on them.  We must be aware, we must be on guard, we must pray.  But we also must be rooted and built up to walk this way correctly and safely in Christ and with Christ as our Captain and Lord.  If He is not our Lord and if we do not listen to His commands, we will surely fall into the enemy's trap and be taken captive.

But if we listen to Christ our Captain, we will overcome for He always leads us in triumphant procession in Christ. (2 Cor. 2:14)