Letter from Jon, October 2023 

.joyfully giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance
of the saints in the kingdom of light.  For he has rescued us from the dominion
of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, in whom
we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.
Col 1:11-14
 
Dear Friends
 
If you have been around over these last few weeks on Sunday mornings you will know that our preach series has been centred around Paul’s letter to the Colossians, entitled ‘Christ Above All’, where Paul affirms the supremacy and the sufficiency of Christ for our salvation.  In my first message I drew our attention to a word that Paul uses in Ch2:18 where he says ‘do not let anyone…disqualify you’. I was so struck by this word as I prepared my message, partly because it resonated with me, but I also know that it resonated with a number of other people.  ‘Disqualify’ is a horrible word.  It speaks of rejection and failure, of being excluded because, for whatever reason, we are not good enough.  I’m sure that most, if not all of us, can think of situations in life, perhaps on the sports field, the academic field or even in our career, where we have felt the pain of disqualification and wondered ‘why was I not good enough?’; ‘why was I not included?’  Perhaps we look at others and think that we can never be like them, we can never be as good as them in whatever field.
 
The reality, of course, is that throughout life we will potentially face the pain of someone else telling us we are not good enough, that we are disqualified.  That is why Paul’s words above are so important.  The truth is that where it matters, ie in our heavenly Father’s eyes, you are qualified.  He never turns anyone away who comes to him but welcomes us home, not because of anything we have done or will do but simply because he is who he is, and he has done, through Christ, what we could never do.  It is all about God’s grace through Christ.  Grace is the greatest leveller, taking no account of our intelligence, background, wealth, status, beauty or anything else that the world holds dear, but acknowledging that every single one of us is hopelessly lost and desperately in need of God’s grace, and that Christ is our only qualification.
 
We have an enemy who will constantly push our buttons of inadequacy and failure, who will try to tell us that we are disqualified, that God accepts others but somehow we fall short.  Remember, he is a liar and the father of lies (John 8:44).  You have permission from your heavenly Father, every time you hear that whisper in your ear, to remember the words of Paul, ‘do not let anyone..disqualify you’ and to declare the truth that ‘I am qualified by my Father in heaven to share in the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of light’
 
My prayer is that each of us, myself included, would know what it is to live out our lives from this place of acceptance, grace and love, confident of our identity as children of the living God, and ‘joyfully giving thanks to the Father’
 
Love and Glorious Hope
 
Jon