Colossians Summary

Since I've been watching the Olympics so much, as I've been thinking about how to summarize the series in Colossians, I've naturally made analogies between "Being in Christ" and being an athlete.

In the epistle, the apostle Paul showed that being in Christ meant being:

• His Body - one of the athletes reminded us that "it takes a village".  In the same way, we don't walk this Christian life alone, we need to be part of the Body of Christ.  And just as an athlete represents their country; we represent the Christ, the Head of the Body.

• Alive with Him - we are to be connected to the source of our power and life, in the same way that athlete keep connected with what motivates them.  This passage also stated, as is true for athletes,  that we should not let any distractions cheat us of the reward or disqualify us for the prize - we should keep our eyes on the prize

• His Servants - We are to set our hearts and minds on things above, to keep our focus on Who we are really serving, putting off the old self and putting on the new - putting on what we need to "win"; just as athletes set their hearts and minds on the Olympic Gold

• Devoted to Prayer - Just as we've often see athletes crossing themselves or show other ways of appealing to God before entering a competition; we as believers must also offer prayers to God in conjunction with doing our part in the preparation for the "race"

It's neat to see these parallels as a practical analogy illustrating what Paul was teaching in Colossians.

I'm also glad to see that our US Olympic athletes have been doing so well in these Olympic Games.  Many of the athletes that have been projected for Gold have met expectations - Bode Miller, Lindsey Vonn, Apollo Anton Ohno, Evan Lysacek, Shaun White, Shani Davis, etc.   It's wonderful for them to achieve what they have worked so hard for and have dreamed about for so long.