Moments to Ponder

Episode 151: You Are Already Loved: Living from Security, Not for Approval (Col. 1:1-8)

• Betsy Marvin • Season 16 • Episode 151

Share episode

Thought to share? Send me a text...

We return to the book of Colossians with fresh insights about God's transformative love and how understanding this love changes everything about how we live our faith.

• Revisiting the first book of scripture covered on the podcast with deeper understanding and a new companion guide
• Many Christians, even church leaders, struggle to fully believe they are 100% loved by God
• Perfect love casts out fear (1 John 4:18), freeing us from anxiety and shame
• Our perspective should shift from "doing something to be loved" to "doing something because we are loved"
• God's love is unconditional - we are loved not because of what we do but because of who God is

Download the free companion guide through the link in the show notes or on my website, betsymarvin.com, under Resources. As always, it helps me if you subscribe to this podcast on your favorite platform by following it and giving it a rating so that others can find this resource as they search for a place to grow and learn as well.

0:00  Welcome to Moments to Ponder

1:39  Introduction to Colossians

3:11  Paul's Greeting and Gratitude

6:01  Faith, Hope and Love in Action

8:37  God's Perfect Love Casts Out Fear

12:10  Experiencing God's Unconditional Love

14:25  Final Encouragement and Blessing

Download the Companion Guide:
https://betsymarvin.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/colossians-companion-guide-without-transcripts.pdf

Link to The Deep End with Lecrae feat. Francis Chan:
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/why-francis-chan-abandoned-his-megachurch-for-living-rooms/id1731885106?i=1000709445993 

To find out more about me, or to book a speaking engagement, head to
https://betsymarvin.com/

For access to past podcasts and transcripts, head to
https://betsymarvin.com/podcasts/

You can follow me on Instagram
https://www.instagram.com/betsyjmarvin/
and Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/betsy.marvin.98

Speaker 1:

Hi friends, I'm Betsy and I want to welcome you to Moments to Ponder. This podcast is designed to help you spend a few moments in God's Word and take away something to ponder. It's my prayer that you will find encouragement as we spend this time together. This is Episode 151. If you've been around a while, this series might sound familiar. I have learned so much about podcasting and the true vision for this work that I started about four years ago that I wanted to go back and revisit the very first book of scripture that I took on and give it a little remix. As an additional element, I've added a companion guide. My husband asked me if I had ever considered creating a way for listeners to take the study a little deeper on their own meaning. He wanted a guide that would help him expand his own personal journey with scripture, so I've given it a go. You can download the free guide through the link in the show notes or on my website, betsymarvincom, under Resources. I will be releasing the guide in two parts, and the first one is out there. As always, it helps me if you subscribe to this podcast on your favorite platform by following it and giving it a rating so that others can find this resource as they search for a place to grow and learn as well. Thank you, now let's get started.

Speaker 1:

The book of Colossians holds a special place in my heart. It's through God's words in this book that I discovered true freedom in Christ and the deep joy of knowing how much he truly loves each and every one of us. The Apostle Paul is the author of Colossians and, as he does with many of his letters, he begins by identifying himself and greeting the Church of Colossae. Like Paul, my prayer is that as we travel through this letter together, god will release upon you his kind favor and heaven-like peace. For context, colossae was a city about 100 miles east of Ephesus, located on the Lysis River, which is in modern-day Turkey. It was a busy little trading town set at a crossroads that was a key route between Ephesus and the east, close to Laodicea and Hierapolis. The church there had been founded by Epaphras, who had most likely learned from Paul while Paul was in Ephesus. There's actually some questions as to whether Paul wrote this letter from prison in Rome or the prison in Ephesus, and evidence is leaning more toward Ephesus. Paul writes each of his New Testament letters to offer encouragement for the believers of the area he's writing to and to give them some kind of correction element Now, we'll see this as we move through this book kind of correction element Now we'll see this as we move through this book.

Speaker 1:

For this series I'm using the Passion Translation version of scripture. I feel it gives just a little different take on it and I appreciate how that makes this a little more personal for us as we read it. So let's begin. Colossians 1, 1.

Speaker 1:

Dear friends in Colossae, my name is Paul and I have been chosen by Jesus Christ to be His Apostle. By the calling and destined purpose of God, my colleague Timothy and I send this letter to all the holy believers who have been united to Jesus as beloved followers of the Messiah Isaiah. May God, our true Father, release upon your lives the riches of His kind favor and heavenly peace through the Lord Jesus, the Anointed One. Every time we pray for you, our hearts overflow with thanksgiving to the Father God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, for we have heard of your devoted lives of faith in Christ Jesus and your tender love toward all his holy believers. Imagine getting a real paper letter in the mail from someone you truly admire, and it begins like this. I am so grateful for you. I'm praying for you. I've heard you're doing great things. May God release on you riches of his kind, favor and peace through Jesus. I mean, that would be a blessing right Kind of cool. This is the way Paul opens his letter to the Colossians Gratitude, a shout out to whoever was with him, the prayer and the blessings Ever.

Speaker 1:

The disciple maker, paul has Timothy with him to learn and help. As he spends time in prison, paul's heart is overflowing with thankfulness. He's praying for these devoted Jesus followers. He continues in verse 5, your faith and love rise within you as you access all the treasures of your inheritance stored up in the heavenly realms. For the revelation of the true gospel is as real today as the day you first heard of our glorious hope. Now that you have believed in the truth of the gospel, this is the wonderful message that is being spread everywhere, powerfully changing hearts throughout the earth, just like it changed you. Every believer of this good news bears the fruit of eternal life as they experience the reality of God's grace.

Speaker 1:

Our beloved coworker Epaphras was there from the beginning to thoroughly teach you the astonishing revelation of the gospel, and he serves you faithfully as Christ's representative. He's informed us of the many wonderful ways love is being demonstrated through your lives by the empowerment of the Holy Spirit. Paul knew that God's word was not just for information, it's for transformation, the knowledge of God's grace. The gospel had changed them, as seen in their devotion to loving each other and their faith in Jesus. In 1 Corinthians 13, paul wrote there are three things that remain faith, hope and love. Yet love surpasses them all.

Speaker 1:

Paul revisits these verses, speaking of their faith in Jesus, their love of all God's people, and these attributes came from their confident hope in heaven. Epaphras has shared with Paul the ways his little church is showing their love. This doesn't mean that they went around hugging each other all day Well, maybe they did but Paul is speaking of the behaviors that mark them as different from the Roman world around them. The world then wasn't much different from ours today. It was full of anger and lies, lust and power, and this broke families and communities apart. The kindness, gentleness, forgiveness and acceptance of each other was a true outward sign of the inner work of God in each of them, and this is what has made Paul so grateful. They were living out the love of Christ, and that was changing hearts. Paul also mentions their faith, a form of trust.

Speaker 1:

The book of Hebrews tells us that faith brings hope into reality. It's the belief without seeing. And what were they believing that? Jesus told us the truth. Jesus said in John 10 10,. I have come that you may have life. And in John 3 17,. Jesus said the Son did not come to condemn the world but to save it. And in Jeremiah 31 3,. God said I have loved you with an everlasting love. Faith and hope are bound together through love.

Speaker 1:

There are many types of love in the Greek language and here in the first verses of Colossians, paul uses the word agape. Now, agape love is fully described in 1 Corinthians 13. We'll just name a few characteristics here. It is a large love, incredibly patient, gentle and consistently kind. It does not traffic in shame or disrespect but is a safe place of shelter. When Paul shares that he has heard of the wonderful way the Colossians have demonstrated the love for their pastor Epaphras, he makes sure to know that this agape love is empowered by the Holy Spirit.

Speaker 1:

I was recently listening to Lecrae's podcast, the Deep End, and in it he was interviewing Francis Chan. Now Chan was a mega, mega church pastor and a few years ago he just walked away from it which you can hear about on the podcast. It's a pretty amazing story and I'll link to the show in the show notes. They have quite a conversation and in the middle-ish they start to talk about God's love and that's what I'd like to highlight to you. Chan shares that he has spent years trying to prove to God that he was worthy of his love. He knew he loved God, but through sacrifice and serving he realized that there was this underlying feeling of wanting to prove to God that Jesus really is the Lord of his life. He goes on to say it can be easy to say I love God, but it's hard for him to say God's crazy about me.

Speaker 1:

At a conference, francis asked a group of pastors how many of you are like only 80% sure that you're loved by Jesus? And 70 to 80% of them stood. What the enemy has so messed with us? God, the perfect father has leaders of his family that aren't sure that he loves them. Father has leaders of his family that aren't sure that he loves them, the majority thinking they aren't really enough and that they have to earn that love. Can you imagine if your kids were only 80% sure that you love them. For many of us, we love our kids so completely just because they're ours. Now I know that there are people listening today who have really doubted their parents' love, whether it was through actions or words. You were made to feel less than or unwanted and I am so sorry. My heart breaks for that. You have a Heavenly Father who loves you 100%, completely.

Speaker 1:

We can know that God loves us, but not believe it or trust it. As Chan was saying, we don't question God's holiness or power. But when it comes to his love, why do we question? That? Probably comes from our own fears or insecurities and our failures. The wounds of our lives can affect how we receive and give love. But, as Paul says here in Colossians, there is a supernatural element that comes with God's love and it speaks to a part of us that is deep within us.

Speaker 1:

In 1 John 4.18, we read this Perfect love casts out fear. That means that in His perfect love there is no judgment and we have nothing to fear. That means that in His perfect love there is no judgment and we have nothing to fear, so we can know God's security and freedom instead of anxiety and shame. And it's really hard to comprehend that kind of love because of the world we live in. To take it from the other way, a lack of love breeds fear, the fear of abandonment, of not being enough, of rejection, of failure. It makes sense when there is no love, we are afraid. But if we truly live like we are loved by God, which we are, then wouldn't all that insecurity and fear go away?

Speaker 1:

Zephaniah 3.17 tells us that the Lord, your God, is with you, the mighty warrior who saves. He will take great delight in you, in his love. He will no longer rebuke you but will rejoice over you with singing. He takes great delight in you. His love doesn't condemn you but sings over you. In Ephesians 3, paul writes this in verses 16 through 19.

Speaker 1:

I pray that from his glorious, unlimited resources, god will empower you with inner strength through his spirit. Then Christ will make his home in your hearts, as you trust in him. Your roots will grow down into God's love and keep you strong. And may you have the power to understand, as all God's people should, how wide, how long, how high and how deep his love is. May you experience the love of Christ, though it is too great to understand fully. Then you will be made complete with all the fullness of life and power that comes from God. His unlimited resources empower you. He knows that we need his help within us to help our roots grow deep into his love. And the deeper our roots, the more we can begin to understand how wide, long high, how deep His love is. And even then it will still be too great to fully understand what if we said I am so incredibly loved, I should do something with this Instead of I should do something so that I can be loved. Do you hear the difference?

Speaker 1:

Being secure in God's love is a supernatural gift, a gift of the Spirit, and when we put faith with love, it brings a confidence we know how loved we are which affects how we live. We live out of that confidence, security that nothing we do will ever remove us from his love, that love is freely given and unconditional, full and open. And that confidence brings hope and understanding, trust. Dear one, you are loved with agape love. Dear one, you are loved with agape love, a love that joyfully celebrates you, a love that is secure, a shelter without shame, a love that believes in you and never gives up. Ponder these words of love for you. Today, you are loved not because of what you do, but because of who God is. I encourage you to read 1 Corinthians, 13, 5-11, and know that this is the description of how God loves you. May God, our true Father, release upon your life the riches of His kind favor and heavenly peace, through the Lord Jesus, the Anointed One, amen.