“What’s wrong with those people?” “How can people be so stupid?” “How can people be so uncaring?”

When my interaction with people reveals comments like these are at a sort of flood-stage, a torrent of angst and vitriol, I’m tempted to raise my voice with a perfect tonic of comments that will end the self-righteous floods. “Ha! Sure, Ralph. Good luck with that,” you might be saying. Fortunately, the Wise One living in me pointed out my foolish attempt at flood control (which would only add to the flood), by reminding me that He and I are all about Something Else. It’s not something that stops the flow, but something that rescues those caught up in it. The apostle Paul was also caught up in Something Else centuries ago, and what he wrote catches my attention this today:

Colossians 2:1 I want you to know how hard I am contending for you and for those at Laodicea, and for all who have not met me personally. 2 My goal is that they may be encouraged in heart, having been knit together in love, so that they may have the full riches of complete understanding, in order that they may know the mystery of God, namely, Christ, 3 in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. 4 I tell you this so that no one may deceive you by persuasive arguments.

Did you catch that? Did you notice those sequences, each phrase building off another, so that we may know Christ? Let me put it another way. If you’ve been reborn into Christ, but have been deluded into looking for “wisdom and knowledge” outside of where you are, then what you’re finding is false treasure. How can you tell? The evidence will be that you’re not “encouraged in heart, having been united in love,” because you’re not knowing “the mystery of God, namely, Christ,…” The unity you’re looking for in the world has been given to you in Christ alone, but the deception of the world’s “persuasive arguments” has beguiled you toward making another one that He didn’t. The Spirit is calling you off of the flood abatement team because you’re not part of it; you’re part of Something Else.

I’m not saying that Christians shouldn’t be mindful of the water. I’m saying we should be mindful of what the Spirit is doing with us and in us, so that we know Christ, “in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.” From knowing Him, will come our reach to those who are just now carried away. So, live your life in Christ, and He’ll see to your reach.

Colossians 2:5 For though I am absent from you in body, I am present with you in spirit and delight to see your orderly manner and the stability of your faith in Christ. 6 So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live your lives in him, 7 having been rooted and now being built up in him and established in your faith, as you were taught, and overflowing with gratitude.

See you later.