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because we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love you have for all God’s people—
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For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you. We continually ask God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all the wisdom and understanding that the Spirit gives,
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so that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God,
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being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience,
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The Supremacy of the Son of God
The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation.
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For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him.
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He is before all things, and in him all things hold together.
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For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him,
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and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.
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To them God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.
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He is the one we proclaim, admonishing and teaching everyone with all wisdom, so that we may present everyone fully mature in Christ.
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To this end I strenuously contend with all the energy Christ so powerfully works in me.
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I want you to know how hard I am contending for you and for those at Laodicea, and for all who have not met me personally.
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My goal is that they may be encouraged in heart and united in love, so that they may have the full riches of complete understanding, in order that they may know the mystery of God, namely, Christ,
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in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.
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I tell you this so that no one may deceive you by fine-sounding arguments.
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For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form,
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When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins,
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And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.
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These are a shadow of the things that were to come; the reality, however, is found in Christ.
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These rules, which have to do with things that are all destined to perish with use, are based on merely human commands and teachings.
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Such regulations indeed have an appearance of wisdom, with their self-imposed worship, their false humility and their harsh treatment of the body, but they lack any value in restraining sensual indulgence.
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Living as Those Made Alive in Christ
Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.
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Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.
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When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.
