Colossians 1:13-27

¹³We all used to be in the dark place, where the devil is the boss, and that devil pushed us to do bad things. But God sent his son, Jesus, to get us out of that place. He took the blame for us, so that now God will not punish us. He freed us from that bad devil boss and now we belong to the family of his son, Jesus. God loves him very much.

¹⁵Nobody can see God, but his son, Jesus, was just like God, and he showed people what God is like. You see, Jesus was there with God a long time ago, and he worked with God to make everything. They made all the things in heaven and all the things on the earth. They made the things we can see and the things we can’t see. They put all the spirit bosses there in the world that we can’t see. God worked with his son to make everything, so that now everything has to respect God’s son. Jesus is God’s first son, and he is the boss over everything.

¹⁷He was there at first, before anything else, and now he holds everything together everywhere, and keeps it all working properly.

¹⁸Jesus is the leader of all God’s people, and God’s people are the church. They are like his body, and Jesus is the head of his body. He started the church and he makes it alive. He was the first one to ever die, and then come back to life, and keep on living, so he is really great. He is greater than anyone and anything else anywhere.

¹⁹At that time, when God’s son became a man, God lived in him properly. God was happy to live in him,

²⁰so that God can get everything to come back to himself. God’s son bled and died on the cross, so that now everything can stop being God’s enemies and become God’s friends again. Some of those things are in heaven, and some on the earth, but Jesus died for them all, so they can all come back to God.

²¹And I’m talking about you too. At first you were not in God’s mob. You were his enemies. You always thought in a bad way and then you did bad things.

²²But God got Jesus Christ to live in a human body and then die, so that now you can come back to God and be his friends. God did this so that later, at the time when God will judge everyone, he will see that you are properly good and clean inside, and he will not blame you. He will say that you are not guilty.

²³God will do this for you if you stay strong, and always remember that good news you heard about Jesus, so that you keep on trusting him and know that he will save you. You see, God got his workers to tell people everywhere that Jesus died to save us. This is really good news. And I, Paul, am one of God’s workers now. My job is to tell people this good news.

²⁴Yes, I tell people the message about Jesus, and some people don’t like it and they give me trouble. But no worries, this message helps you, so I’m happy to keep on telling it. You know, Jesus Christ said we will get trouble, so I’m happy to get as much trouble as he wants me to get. And I keep helping his people. They are the church. They are like the body of Jesus Christ.

²⁵And God gets me to work for his people, so I do this to help you. My job is to tell you God’s word, and explain it all properly.

²⁶At first God didn’t let anyone know what he was going to do. He kept it a secret for a really long time. But now he is showing this secret to his people.

²⁷God wants his people to know this secret. It is very good, and it is really great for you people that are not Jews. And this is the secret. Jesus Christ lives in you people that trust him, so you can be sure that you will be great with him in heaven.