Click this link to hear an audio version of the below text narrated by SOTH member Jerry Rhinehart:
Colossians 1:11-14 (NIV)
11 being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, 12 and giving joyful thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of his holy people in the kingdom of light. 13 For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, 14 in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.
In Colossians, Paul takes the event of the cross and shows that this act of propitiation, redemption and forgiveness was a cosmic event! Because of His death on the cross where all our sin was placed on Him, Jesus presents us to God as holy and blameless! This is what Luther called the “happy” or “wonderful” exchange. Why? Because Jesus reconciled our debts with God. Our unrighteousness was given to Jesus and his holiness and righteousness was given to us. This is why nothing we do can save us. It’s already done! What darkness is holding on in your life? Is there something that causes you to lose hope or grow anxious? Let Jesus take all the darkness. Put it all on him. Let go of trying to control outcomes, to fix all the problems or fix people! Rest in the light of Christ’s holiness that is now yours.