Walk the Line Col. 3:1-11

Just get out there and do your best. Sound advice but is it helpful advice when living your life as a believer in Christ? Is our task in life to walk the line between good and bad, eliminating sin? Paul answers that question with a  yes and a no. Yes, but it is not job alone. Raised with Christ from death of sin we can separate ourselves from the old ways, the natural desire to elevate ourselves into the place of God. Those old ways were buried with Christ and raised with Him we are washed clean ready to walk the line, empowered with the mind and heart of Christ. We walk the line in love, His love.

Paul, inspired by the Spirit paraphrased says, “Go out and do the best that is in you.” We are to walk that line but it is not by ourselves. Paul writes, “….you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is…” Col. 3:1 So you walk the line with “Christ who is your life”.

Question: Why did Martin Luther write the Small Catechism?

 

Answer: The Small Catechism is also known as Luther’s Little Instruction Book. Luther wrote it in 1529 as a guide for fathers in teaching the main points of the gospel to their children and servants. He had noticed that while the Protestant gospel had been preached for ten years, there was a lack of understanding of the gospel and the Christian life. Religious education in the family home was in a sorry state. In his words, “How pitiable, so help me God, were the things I saw: the common man, especially in the villages, knows practically nothing of Christian doctrine, and many of the pastors are almost entirely incompetent and unable to teach. The Small Catechism was written to fill the gap.