So you also are complete through your union with Christ. Colossians 2:10 nlt
In a popular film, an actor plays a success-driven sports agent whose marriage begins to crumble. Attempting to win back his wife, Dorothy, he looks into her eyes and says, “You complete me.” It’s a heart-warming message that echoes a tale in Greek philosophy. According to that myth, each of us is a “half” that must find our “other half” to become whole.
The belief that a romantic partner “completes” us is now part of popular culture. But is it true? I talk to many married couples who still feel incomplete because they haven’t been able to have children and others who’ve had kids but feel something else is missing. Ultimately, no human can fully complete us.
The apostle Paul gives another solution. “For in Christ lives all the fullness of God in a human body. So you also are complete through your union with Christ” (Colossians 2:9–10 nlt). Jesus doesn’t just forgive us and liberate us, He also completes us by bringing the life of God into our lives (vv. 13–15).
Marriage is good, but it can’t make us whole. Only Jesus can do that. Instead of expecting a person, career, or anything else to complete us, let’s accept God’s invitation to let His fullness fill our lives more and more.
Read: Colossians 2:6–15 (NIV)
Spiritual Fullness in Christ
6 So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live your lives in him, 7 rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness.
8 See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the elemental spiritual forces[a] of this world rather than on Christ.
9 For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form, 10 and in Christ you have been brought to fullness. He is the head over every power and authority. 11 In him you were also circumcised with a circumcision not performed by human hands. Your whole self ruled by the flesh[b] was put off when you were circumcised by[c] Christ, 12 having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through your faith in the working of God, who raised him from the dead.
13 When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made you[d] alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, 14 having canceled the charge of our legal indebtedness, which stood against us and condemned us; he has taken it away, nailing it to the cross. 15 And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.[e]
INSIGHT
- How have you sought spiritual fulfillment through people instead of God?
- How does Jesus’ completing you change your view of marriage and singleness?
The idea of living our lives in Christ is prominent throughout today’s Scripture reading (Colossians 2:6–15). In fact, the words “in him” (“with him”; “in Christ”) appear several times. In verse 6, believers in Jesus are told to “live your lives in him,” indicating that He’s the One we need to imitate, and our identity is found in Him. Verse 7 continues with the idea of being “rooted and built up in him.” The verb rooted is a metaphor for receiving our sustenance from Jesus continually, as a plant takes in its nourishment at the roots. Verses 9–11 each begin with terminology that refers to being “in Christ.” These verses explain why Jesus is central to the forgiveness of our sins, emphasizing His death and resurrection as well as our role in dying with Him (to our sin) and rising with Him.
PRAYER
Jesus, thank You for making me complete through Your death, resurrection, forgiveness, and restoration. In Your Holy and Precious name, I pray. Amen!!
