Wednesday, May 13, 2015

a one letter difference

  One letter in a word can make a big difference.  I was thinking about the difference between "compete" and "complete".  In this life "compete" seems to have a big role.  We compete for attention, for grades, for college entrance, for jobs, for promotions.  We compete in sports and we pick favorite teams to compete for us vicariously.  We like to win, both personally and collectively...as teams and even as nations.  In my adult life I have seen the genders even pitted against each other as rivals...Man and Woman both competing for success in the world....
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Reading the epistle to the Colossians we see how Christ "completes" us.  Oh, there is still competition.  There is an enemy of Christ who competes with the Lord for the attention and affection of men and women.  But Christ has come to complete us in Him and we are sent as His representatives to bring the message of completeness to others.  In the body of Christ, where we reside once we have trusted in Him, we form a completed picture to the world of who Christ is.
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We are all incomplete without Christ and we won't find Him through "competition", but in finding Him and in helping others find and know Him we become complete and see this completeness extended more completely.
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One letter makes the difference  between "compete" and "complete"...the letter "l".  We might say that the "l" stands for love...the love of Christ has come to complete in and through us!
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Colossians 2:10 So you also are complete through your union with Christ, who is the head over every ruler and authority.
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Colossians 3:14 Above all, clothe yourselves with love, which  binds us all together in perfect harmony.
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with thanks to Paul Roa,
Rob Smith

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