Have you ever gone on a treasure hunt? It’s exciting to find something that seems of value. When I was little, I can remember finding nickels stuck in the stairway of our home. The contractors must have used the coins to level the stairs. Whatever the reason, it was exciting to find them.
On a much larger scale, The Columbus Dispatch publishes a list of names of people with unclaimed funds. According to the State Treasurer of Ohio web site 200,000 people lose track of their funds every year. In fact, there is over $1 billion of unclaimed funds just in Ohio. It is the job of the Division of Unclaimed Funds, to make an attempt to return those funds to their rightful owners. That’s what Paul is doing in this passage.
Some of the believers in Colossae have turned to the wrong beliefs. Paul writes about it in chapter 2. Apparently they are trusting in rules. Rules that "have an appearance of wisdom, with their self-imposed worship, their false humility and their harsh treatment of the body". The Colossian believers also needed to be reminded about what it means to live holy lives as Paul tells them to put to death their earthly nature.
In Colossians 2:9-10 Paul wrote, "For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form, and in Christ you have been brought to fullness". What more could we want than the fullness of Christ? And in 3:1 he writes, "You have been raised with Christ" so set your heart and mind on things above where Christ is. "For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. When Christ appears, you will appear with him in glory".
In this passage, Paul is describing the Colossians’ inheritance in Christ. It is there waiting for them to embrace it. But they are wandering after other beliefs and following their earthly nature. The same inheritance is there waiting for us, but life happens and we get distracted. We forget what Christ has already done for us and what is there just waiting for us.
Paul is reminding you and me to come and claim what is rightfully ours as believers in Christ – to come and claim our unclaimed funds. And then "whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus".
http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=colossians%203:1-11&version=NIV;MSG
http://www.biblegateway.com/audio/mclean/niv/Col.3.1-Col.3.11
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