July 13, 2025 Text: Colossians 1:1-14
Dear Friends in Christ,
A young couple brings their first child home. No hospital worker is there to change a diaper or monitor the baby’s vital signs. The reality hits, dad and mom you are responsible for this child. For some parents they feel inadequate. Surveys continue to show that fathers and mothers of infants through teens don’t feel equipped to handle the pressures and challenges of parenthood. Discipline, faith matters, social media, sex and other topics many parents just want to avoid. Their inadequacy is a detriment to society.
St. Paul struggled with his inadequacy as an apostle. He constantly reminded his readers, like he does in verse 1, that his calling was from God. “Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother.”
Parents need this same reminder. Your calling as parents is the will of God. God has placed you over your child for the child’s well-being. Be confident in exercising that God-given authority because it is pleasing to God.
The Colossian Christians struggled with feelings of inadequacy. Paul calls them “saints and faithful brothers in Christ,” but they were starting to doubt the sufficiency of Christ to make them holy and faithful. They needed this reminder as do we . . .
“GOD ALONE QUALIFIES US”
The Colossians were getting this background noise that Christ alone was not enough to secure their salvation. They were being encouraged to do good things in order to assure their eternal destiny. Instead of Christ alone, it was Christ and the works of the Law.
When we feel deficient, we try to make up the deficiency ourselves. What effort can I improve on? What commitment can I be better at? What decision do I need to re-think?
Paul directed the Colossians and us to the sufficiency of God. Paul writes, “We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ when we pray for you, since we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and the love that you have for all the saints.” (v. 3-4)
Where does this faith come from? “The hope laid up for you in heaven . . . the word of truth, the gospel…. strengthened with all power…giving thanks to the Father who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in light.” (v. 5, 11-12). God alone qualifies us to enter heavenly life and to meet the challenges of life.
We can all feel inadequate on occasion. Ever been around a group that has a skill you don’t have? Maybe you start comparing yourself to a neighbor or friend and feel deficient. Remember this, if they have adequacy in a certain area of life it is only because God has granted this skill or ability.
The same is true for you. You have adequacies and skills that others don’t have. God qualifies you. He allows you to serve neighbor in his Kingdom.
We must admit where we are inadequate. Before a holy God. Those secret sins that have our inner voice talking to us. The harm we have caused others. The compassion we do not show when we should. Your adequacy before God comes down to you and what you do. This is not the teaching of the apostles.
God’s formula is not Christ and the works of the Law. Rather, it is Christ alone. Verses 13-14 make this clear, “He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.”
When you hear that inner voice accusing you, hear another voice – the voice of Christ releasing you from your sins and drowning out the voice within. We have forgiveness in Christ alone and his finished work for us. In Christ we are completely qualified to share in the heavenly inheritance.
Gianna Jensen knows that well. She was born alive after a failed saline abortion. She weighed only two pounds, and the abortionist had to sign her birth certificate. She has cerebral palsy because of oxygen starvation during the attempted abortion. They said she would never sit up, crawl or walk. She does all three and even competes in marathons. She has addressed Congress and the British House of Commons.
As a child she was bullied and taunted. Others told her she was a burden on society. She didn’t buy into the hatred. Today, she speaks of her experience at venues across the world. She admits that she has more joy than she can express because of the obstacles God has enabled her to overcome.
For Gianna her adequacy is from God. Your adequacy is from God. God alone qualifies you to share in the inheritance of the saints. Be the adequate and qualified parent, grandparent, spouse, child, employee or employer He has called you to be.
Amen.