“Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord.”
“richly”
It is not enough to let “the word of Christ” dwell in us; we must let it dwell “richly,” not meagerly. “Richly” is an idiom for abundantly–to the point of spiritual wealth. Many people have a poor grasp of the “word of Christ.” Yet, we are to let His “word” dwell profusely and qualitatively in us. God wants us to assimilate the “word” fully. He wants us to incorporate it personally. We must stop at gas stations regularly if we have a small tank in a big car. We cannot fill our tank once, and that is it for a thousand-mile trip! We will stall on the freeway of life. We need a larger spiritual tank.
“in all wisdom”
“Wisdom” has to do with the application of truth. It is not enough to treat the Word of God theoretically. When the word of Christ dwells in us richly, it makes us wise in how God does things. It means moving truth from the mind into experience.
The term “all” refers to the totality of a thing. The idea is the collection of “wisdom” about Christ. Christians are to clothe themselves with the wisdom of Christ-centeredness. How much do we know about Him? To what degree have we grasped the greatness of what He has done for us?
Principle:
God bases the Christian life on the tandem of truth and comprehensive application of truth about Christ.
Application:
If a car is to move, it needs gas in the tank. The tank for the Christian is the human spirit. If the human spirit runs without the intake of “the word of Christ,” it becomes skinny and anemic. When a car’s tank is empty, it is not operational. If there is gas in the believer’s spiritual tank, he can pump it into his experience and walk with the Lord. “The word of Christ” does no good if the Christian does not transfer it into his life.
Christ-centeredness should be the focus of our orientation. We fall apart in the difficulties of life when we do not apply “the word of Christ” to our lives. The word of Christ not applied is of no practical use. If we learn about Christ academically but do not transfer it into our human spirit, it will not benefit us to the maximum.
It isn’t easy to orient to life when in a jam. It is hard to think objectively about our problem while falling apart. Some students are comatose for most of the semester, and 24 hours before their exam, they stay up all night drinking ammonia cokes and coffee, boning up on the entire semester. They open their exam, and they wonder why their mind goes blank. We cannot learn nearly as well while we are under pressure. The only kind of learning under pressure that is of any benefit is when we end up with knots on our heads! We must understand the principles of Christ-centeredness before trouble comes our way.
