Colossians 1 Greetings from Paul 1 This letter is from Paul, chosen by the will of God to be an apostle of Christ Jesus, and from our brother Timothy.   2 We are writing to God's holy people in the city of Colosse, who are faithful brothers and sisters* in Christ.   May God our Father give you grace and peace. Paul's Thanksgiving and Prayer 3 We always pray for you, and we give thanks to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.4 For we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and your love for all of God's people,5 which come from your confident hope of what God has reserved for you in heaven. You have had this expectation ever since you first heard the truth of the Good News.   6 This same Good News that came to you is going out all over the world. It is bearing fruit everywhere by changing lives, just as it changed your lives from the day you first heard and understood the truth about God's wonderful grace.   7 You learned about the Good News from Epaphras, our beloved co-worker. He is Christ's faithful servant, and he is helping us on your behalf.*8 He has told us about the love for others that the Holy Spirit has given you.   9 So we have not stopped praying for you since we first heard about you. We ask God to give you complete knowledge of his will and to give you spiritual wisdom and understanding.10 Then the way you live will always honor and please the Lord, and your lives will produce every kind of good fruit. All the while, you will grow as you learn to know God better and better.   11 We also pray that you will be strengthened with all his glorious power so you will have all the endurance and patience you need. May you be filled with joy,*12 always thanking the Father. He has enabled you to share in the inheritance that belongs to his people, who live in the light.13 For he has rescued us from the kingdom of darkness and transferred us into the Kingdom of his dear Son,14 who purchased our freedom* and forgave our sins. Christ Is Supreme 15 Christ is the visible image of the invisible God.   He existed before anything was created and is supreme over all creation,* 16 for through him God created everything   in the heavenly realms and on earth. He made the things we can see   and the things we can't see— such as thrones, kingdoms, rulers, and authorities in the unseen world.   Everything was created through him and for him. 17 He existed before anything else,   and he holds all creation together. 18 Christ is also the head of the church,   which is his body. He is the beginning,   supreme over all who rise from the dead.*   So he is first in everything. 19 For God in all his fullness   was pleased to live in Christ, 20 and through him God reconciled   everything to himself. He made peace with everything in heaven and on earth   by means of Christ's blood on the cross.   21 This includes you who were once far away from God. You were his enemies, separated from him by your evil thoughts and actions.22 Yet now he has reconciled you to himself through the death of Christ in his physical body. As a result, he has brought you into his own presence, and you are holy and blameless as you stand before him without a single fault.   23 But you must continue to believe this truth and stand firmly in it. Don't drift away from the assurance you received when you heard the Good News. The Good News has been preached all over the world, and I, Paul, have been appointed as God's servant to proclaim it. Paul's Work for the Church 24 I am glad when I suffer for you in my body, for I am participating in the sufferings of Christ that continue for his body, the church.25 God has given me the responsibility of serving his church by proclaiming his entire message to you.26 This message was kept secret for centuries and generations past, but now it has been revealed to God's people.27 For God wanted them to know that the riches and glory of Christ are for you Gentiles, too. And this is the secret: Christ lives in you. This gives you assurance of sharing his glory.   28 So we tell others about Christ, warning everyone and teaching everyone with all the wisdom God has given us. We want to present them to God, perfect* in their relationship to Christ.29 That's why I work and struggle so hard, depending on Christ's mighty power that works within me.
Footnotes:
1:2 Greek faithful brothers.
1:7 Or he is ministering on your behalf; some manuscripts read he is ministering on our behalf.
1:11 Or all the patience and endurance you need with joy.
1:14 Some manuscripts add with his blood.
1:15 Or He is the firstborn of all creation.
1:18 Or the firstborn from the dead.
1:28 Or mature.

Our worth in His eyes is based on the character of our life and the qualities that He develops as we commit our life to Him.

10 Lies College Students Hear about God by Richard Ochs

Lie #1: In order to believe the Bible one must commit intellectual suicide.

The reason the Bible is ridiculed by many so-called "intellectuals" today is that their hearts are morally depraved. Their pride and arrogance have blinded them to the truth. "Professing themselves to be wise, they have become fools." (Romans 1:22)

Students, don’t fall for the pseudo-intellectualism which surrounds you on campus. It is a façade which puffs up your pride, but in the end will leave you empty. Ultimately it will matter little if you are counted wise or foolish by the college crowd. What will matter is whether you have walked with God and made it your aim and desire to be pleasing to Him. This is true wisdom and man’s reason for existence.
Lie #2: Christianity is basically the same as the other religions of the world.
The other religions of the world are essentially humanistic: sinful men attempt to reach God through their own self-righteous efforts. In Christianity, on the other hand, God reaches down to sinful men and gives them a righteousness purchased by the death of His Son on the cross. To view Christianity as basically the same as other religions of the world is to miss the main point of Christianity – "God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life." (John 3:16) 
Lie #3: Money, power, pleasure, and prestige are worth striving to attain.

You brought nothing into the world, and it is certain you can carry nothing out. In an instant, all is lost. Your labors, plans, projects are left behind at the grave. In light of this the pursuit of the fleeting pleasures and treasures of this world is "vanity and striving after the wind." (Ecclesiastes 2:11)
Jesus added an even more sobering aspect to the foolish quest for money, power and pleasure. He said that not only will you lose all these things at death, but far more importantly, you will also lose your soul. Hell awaits the person who lives for the things of this world. As Jesus put it, "For what will it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?" (Mark 8:36)
In contrast to the attitude of striving for self-advancement and self-gratification so common on the college campus, Christ taught that the way of true greatness is to become a servant of others, that the kingdom of heaven belongs to the poor in spirit, that God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble, and that true life and joy can be found only as you deny self and take up your cross daily to follow Him.

Why waste your life on things that won’t last and will, in the end, cost you your soul? Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness. He feeds the birds of the air. He clothes the lilies of the field. As you put your trust in Him, He will take care of you.

I am praying to you because I know you will answer, O God. Bend down and listen as I pray.

~ Psalm 17:6,

Things don’t go wrong and break your heart so you can become bitter and give up. They happen to break you down and build you up so you can be all you were intended to be.

Philippians 4:9 “Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me, put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you.”