Remember, one of our goals in this course is to walk away having memorized Colossians 1:15-23. We began memorizing this passage in Lessons 1 and 2. We will continue memorizing these verses in this step.
Memorizing Scripture is a great gift to you and to others in your life. We cannot always open up a Bible to read it, but we can always access and speak the parts of the Bible that we have memorized. I have often been wondrously surprised by how the Holy Spirit equipped me for all kinds of situations through Scripture that I memorized.
I once worked at a warehouse for a freight company. It was a rough and stressful environment. I remember a time when one of my coworkers started yelling at me for something I had not done. I was angry. I wanted to yell back. But at that moment, the Holy Spirit brought to my mind a passage of Scripture that I had been working to memorize: 1 Peter 2:21-25:
21 To this you were called, because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in his steps. 22 'He committed no sin, and no deceit was found in his mouth.' 23 When they hurled their insults at him, he did not retaliate; when he suffered, he made no threats. Instead, he entrusted himself to him who judges justly. 24 'He himself bore our sins' in his body on the cross, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; 'by his wounds you have been healed.' 25 For 'you were like sheep going astray,' but now you have returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.
—1 Peter 2:21-25
As my coworker "hurled insults at me," these verses shaped what I wanted, how I thought, and how I reacted. Through these memorized words, the Holy Spirit shaped my desires, thoughts, and actions so that I responded in a way that honored Jesus.
I pray that our God will use Colossians 1:15-23 to shape us in similar ways. One of the main reasons that Paul wrote to the believers in Colossae was to help them know that God had given them everything they needed to live and grow as Christians in the gospel of Christ. False teachers were infiltrating the Colossian church to take them captive away from Christ with the promise of "higher" worship experiences, the comfort of tradition, and the allure of human wisdom. But Paul urged the Colossians to cling to Christ. God had given them everything they needed and more in Christ and in Christ alone.
Today, we too are challenged to abandon Christ. False teachers still seek to take us captive by pointing us away from the gospel of Christ. As we memorize these verses, I pray that the Holy Spirit uses these memorized words (1) to set our lives wholeheartedly upon Christ, and (2) to keep us from being shifted away "from the hope held out in the gospel."
For this lesson, we will work to keep memorizing Colossians 1:15-23 in three steps:
1. I read Colossians 1:15-23 aloud and recorded it. Listen to this recording a few times as you follow along in your own Bible.
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2. Now, practice reading Colossians 1:15-23 aloud five times. Then, record yourself reading these verses.
3. Finally, fill in the missing words below. Do so without looking or listening to a copy of the text. Each blank contains only one missing word.
(15) The is the of the , the over all . (16) For in him things were : things in and on , visible and , whether thrones or or rulers or ; all things have been him and him. (17) He is all things, and him all things . (18) And he is the of the , the ; he is the and the from among the , so that in everything he might have the . (19) For God was to have all his in him, (20) and him to to himself all things, whether things on or things in , by making through his , shed on the .
(21) Once you were from and were in your minds because of your behavior. (22) But now he has you by physical through death to present you in his sight, without blemish and from — (23) if you continue in your , and firm, and do not from the held out in the . This is the that you heard and that has been to every creature under , and of which I, , have become a .
Let's respond to these words by worshiping Jesus. Watch the video below of "The One and Only Jesus" by Propaganda. Worship with him as he directs our hearts and minds to Jesus.
Respond to Colossians 1:15-23 by praying. Write out your prayer here.