Divine Credit - Himalayan Heights – May 17 Readings: Colossians 3:17 – Do All in the Name of Christ

 Colossians 3:1-17 A Primer in Christian Living

All Scripture is God-breathed and useful, but there are some Scriptures that we can consider the Himalayan mountaintops of the Bible. In the next few months, we will be looking at a series of great texts that inspire and move us - the "Himalayan Heights" of God's Word.

Today's Reading:  Colossians 3:1-17

Colossians 3:1-17 is a step by step guide to Christian living. It is a series of 12 commands, each of which builds on the previous one, laying out how we should live as followers of Jesus Christ. Each day, read the entire 17 verses, then meditate on the verse or verses that are the focus passage.

17 And whatever you do, in word or in deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.

Phase 3: The Final Four
Step 12: Do All in the Name of Christ

NOTES: We conclude this study today with our twelfth step in successful Christian living. 

Through the Bible Readings: 2 Samuel 23-24, John 2:13–3:15, Psalm 63, Proverbs 13:7-8

If you wish to read through the Bible in a year, follow these readings. 

Devotional: Divine Credit    

Wouldn't it be great if someone magnificently wealthy gave you a credit card and said, "Use it whenever you need it." You could spend money, buy things, and the bill would go to the other person, and payment would be their responsibility. Pipe dream? Of course, but a fun dream to dream.

Here's something to consider. You live your life on the basis of a divine credit card. You do not have what you need, but God clothes you in the righteousness of Christ and you approach him, you stand before him, in the name of Jesus Christ. You and I are not good enough to enter heaven, but we stand before God and whip out our (sorry for being crass, I am making a point) Divine Credit Card. We enter heaven and are forgiven based on the resources of Christ. Every aspect of the Christian life is lived on the basis of Divine Credit - we receive from Christ what we cannot do for ourselves.

Of course, in Colossians 3:17, when it says that we should do everything we do in the name of Jesus Christ, there is an aspect of enthusiasm and diligence there. We serve for the glory of God and we should put all we have into our lives as followers of Christ.

However, there is a deeper sense at work here. "In the name of Christ" refers to the merit of Christ, the power of Christ. I am unworthy and have no right to approach the throne of God. I deserve hell and judgment and eternal death. But I am given the right to come before God in the name of Jesus. When I appear before God it is on the basis of Christ's righteousness and worth, not my own. He deserves heaven and I am in Christ. He is holy and I am in Christ. He has a perfect relationship with the Father and I am in Christ.

Permit me to take you through something glorious. Names, in the Bible, have meaning. God's name, Yahweh, describes his glorious, sovereign character. He is eternally self-existent, powerful, eternal, unchanging, and sovereign. He is both holy and loving.

John 17:11 (among other Scriptures) tells us that Jesus shares the name of the Father. "…keep them in your name, which you have given me." Everything that belongs to Father also belongs to Jesus Christ as well. In John 8:58, Jesus laid claim to the name Yahweh, when he said, “Before Abraham was born, I am." Yahweh is built off the Hebrew verb, "I am." In Philippians 2:11 we are told that at this name conferred on Jesus (Yahweh) at his resurrection, "every knee will bow and every tongue will confess." 

Here's the amazing part. God's name represents all his power and Jesus carries that name. When we are redeemed, we are "included in Christ" and given the right to approach God in Jesus' name. We relate to God in Jesus' name. We have access to all God's resources in Jesus' name. We have the Divine Credit Card - not to do as we please but to live as God pleases, based on the resources of Christ. 

You have access to the most amazing resource today, and every day, if you have been born again and redeemed. You have access to the riches of God's glory through Jesus Christ! Don't live on the basis of your own resources, but by the power of Christ, by the Divine Credit - the name of Jesus. 

Father, I thank you for giving me access to the riches of your glory in Christ!

Think and Pray:

Are you "doing the best you can" or are you living based on the glorious riches of Christ?
Do you live by the divine resources you've been given through Christ?