Ephesians 3: Mystery revealed.

Paul was chosen by the Lord to reveal a great mystery:- gentiles are also chosen to serve the Messiah.

4-6 As you read over what I have written to you, you’ll be able to see for yourselves into the mystery of Christ. None of our ancestors understood this. Only in our time has it been made clear by God’s Spirit through his holy apostles and prophets of this new order. The mystery is that people who have never heard of God and those who have heard of him all their lives (what I’ve been calling outsiders and insiders) stand on the same ground before God. They get the same offer, same help, same promises in Christ Jesus. The Message is accessible and welcoming to everyone, across the board.

Paul was a pharisee, proud about his Jewish heritage. As a pharisee, he saw non Jews as people outside the covenant, lost in their idolatry and somehow despised by him. However, by grace, the Lord Jesus chose Paul to reveal a mystery that could never foresee. Jesus filled Paul with love, and Jesus enabled Paul to love the gentiles, to the point of being persecuted by other Jews for opening the covenant to non Jews.
It is like a religious person, grown in a church, who despises Muslims, and one day, by grace, he understands that he is loved by Jesus and want to spread that love to Muslims.

Ephesians 2: From being dead to being a workmanship.

1 And you were dead in your offenses and sins, 2 in which you previously walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience.

I was dead (nekros) in my sins; but the Lord looked to me:

8 For by grace you have been saved through faith; and this is not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; 9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast. 

I wasn't saved because I became good but because the grace made me believed in the Messiah, with a purpose:

10 For we are His workmanship/Poiema, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.

I was created in Jesus for good works. I am getting old, I am aware of my strong tendency to be egoistical, but I am beginning to acknowledge that others are images of the Lord despite being very imperfect. I am beginning to root for others.  

Ephesians 1: A new identity

Paul prayed for the Ephesians:

15-19 That’s why, when I heard of the solid trust you have in the Master Jesus and your outpouring of love to all the followers of Jesus, I couldn’t stop thanking God for you—every time I prayed, I’d think of you and give thanks. But I do more than thank. I ask—ask the God of our Master, Jesus Christ, the God of glory—to make you intelligent and discerning in knowing him personally, your eyes focused and clear, so that you can see exactly what it is he is calling you to do, grasp the immensity of this glorious way of life he has for his followers, oh, the utter extravagance of his work in us who trust him—endless energy, boundless strength!

Now I am retired, and even though I had been reading the Bible along years, I still need to know more God personally, I still need  to grasp the way of life God has for me and the boundless greatness of God's power toward me who believe. I want to see the kindness and power of the Lord in order to praise more the Lord for the king Jesus in my life. 

Philemon: Jesus, the king of peace

Paul intercedes for Onesimus - a fugitive slave. By law, Onesimus shoud be severely punished or even killed by Philemon, his master. Paul argued that Onesimus met him (in Rome) and now, he is a Christian, a brother in Jesus, therefore Paul asks Philemon to treat Onesimus graciously. Onesimus carried two letters: to Colossians and to Philemon. 

I imagine Onesimus carrying this letter, surrendered to Jesus. He didn't know what expected him, but he was in peace, confident that the Lord is in control. 

The life of Onesimus and Philemon were changed by Jesus - the king of peace.

Colossians 4: Prayer

2-4 Pray diligently. Stay alert, with your eyes wide open in gratitude. Don’t forget to pray for us, that God will open doors for telling the mystery of Christ, even while I’m locked up in this jail. Pray that every time I open my mouth I’ll be able to make Christ plain as day to them.

My everyday thoughts are somehow egoistical. If I were Paul, in prison, I would prayer for deliverance. Paul main's concern is to proclaim the gospel. It reminds me the Lord's prayer: "your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.".
The more I admire/praise the Lord, the more I will desire what the Lord aims. 

Colossians 3: new life

3-4 Your old life is dead. Your new life, which is your real life—even though invisible to spectators—is with Christ in God. He is your life. When Christ (your real life, remember) shows up again on this earth, you’ll show up, too—the real you, the glorious you. Meanwhile, be content with obscurity, like Christ.

My old life, centered in me, is dead. My new life is becoming more and more like Jesus. However, this transformation is not passive, through magic; and it is not also based on my own efforts, legalistic. It is a transformation that begins in the mind, in believing that Jesus is in me.

Colossians 2: Reality in Christ

Jesus is the King who conquered to us a new life so that we became citizens of the kingdom of God. The Colossian church was under attack. Bad teachers were teaching how to be more "holy" through circumcision, keep the Sabbath, kosher food, etc.
We read:

16-17 So don’t put up with anyone pressuring you in details of diet, worship services, or holy days. All those things are mere shadows cast before what was to come; the substance is Christ.

18-19 Don’t tolerate people who try to run your life, ordering you to bow and scrape, insisting that you join their obsession with angels and that you seek out visions. They’re a lot of hot air, that’s all they are. They’re completely out of touch with the source of life, Christ, who puts us together in one piece, whose very breath and blood flow through us. He is the Head and we are the body. We can grow up healthy in God only as he nourishes us.

Paul warned: We are holy through Jesus because he is the substance, while diet, Sabbath, etc. are only shadows of Jesus. There is a strong trend in our human hearts to find some holiness in our own effort, but this is a lie. We are made to look to Jesus.