Just the other night, I looked down at my phone, and the battery indicator said 1%. Of course, I needed to do something important on it. And so I made a mad dash for the living room charging spot, but as happens around my house with a wife and 5 kids, the charger was gone. And so I turned and headed to the kitchen charging spot, and guess what? It was gone too. I’m like, what in the world? My phone could turn off at any moment, and so, I made my way to my bathroom charging spot. Third time’s the charm, right? And thankfully it was. I grabbed that cable, plugged in my phone, and saved it from imminent death.

But that cable didn’t just save my phone from death. It began to grow the charge in my phone’s battery. It quickly went from 1% to 2%, and up and up it went. I came back a while later, and it was at 50%. And before the night was over, my phone was 100%. That charging cable didn’t just keep my phone from dying. It grew its power capacity.

And in Colossians 1, Apostle Paul says that the gospel works in much the same way. It certainly rescues us from death. He rejoices that the Colossians had heard the gospel, professed faith in Christ Jesus, and now had hope laid up for them in Heaven. Praise God, they had been saved from sin’s penalty of Hell!

But he looked beyond their salvation. The gospel didn’t just rescue them from death, although that is a huge thing. He said it had also produced great growth in their lives. He remarked how the gospel had borne fruit in lives and how that fruit was increasing all the more.

You see, the gospel doesn’t just save us from death. It produces growth in us. Once it saves us, it doesn’t stop working. It keeps producing fruit in our character, deepening our love, expanding our understanding of grace. You see, the gospel that saved you yesterday is actively transforming you today. It keeps reshaping you to reflect God’s character until you are perfected when you finally see Jesus face to face.

Beloved, don’t ever stop marveling at this. And don’t ever stop leaning into that gospel transformation. God wants to save you and grow you!

Change begins in you!