Category Archives: Colossians

Tony Funderburk writes and sings about the rhyme and reason found in the book of Colossians.

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Advertisers and marketers constantly shout out the message: “be a brand new you.” But is that even possible? Well, not in the physical world. Thank God, the physical world is not all there is.

And thank God, also, that you CAN be a brand new you.

Paul told the Colossians what day must do in order for that to happen. And his message applies to you and me Here’s what he said:

“But now you yourselves are to put off all these: anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy language out of your mouth. Do not lie to one another, since you have put off the old man with his deeds, and have put on the new man who is renewed in knowledge according to the image of Him who created him, where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcised nor uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave nor free, but Christ is all and in all.”

He also said that the evidence of a brand new you would be someone who would do something like this:

“…put on tender mercies, kindness, humility, meekness, longsuffering;  bearing with one another, and forgiving one another, if anyone has a complaint against another; even as Christ forgave you, so you also must do.  But above all these things put on love, which is the bond of perfection.”

See? Once again the power of God’s love old lady jumps into the mix. And it becomes a bond of perfection. But, as I’ve mentioned it many times, this is a limited time offer. One day the gift of Grace will no longer be available. And it is the most incomparably valuable gift anyone could ever receive. A gift so beautiful it inspires me to write rhymes like…

Brand New

This brand new poem is nothing new.
But I want to share it with you.
And if it draws a smile on your face for a while,
Well, that is the least I could do.
Yes, it’s true, you could pass it by.
But then you would never know why
I used up some time to think up of this rhyme.
Then it’s gone in the blink of an eye.  © TF 2025

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Happy Easter. And I only say that to you if you believe in the real reason this holiday (Holy-day) exists. If you don’t believe, then you can have a terrible day for all I care.

“Ouch, Tony. That’s harsh.”

Oh, did I write that out loud. Sorry, not sorry.

OK, now that I’ve thinned out the readers, here’s a little Happy Easter backstory.

A small bunch of years ago I shared an explanation of why Christians celebrate Resurrection Day (aka: Easter). And I’m gonna share it again for the 99% of the world that didn’t see it the first time. Plus, I’ll share the famous Easter song, “The Way,” written by your favorite rhyme and reason rabble-rouser.

If you don’t need to be convinced, awesome. You can skip this explanation and head to the video, below. Either way, here ya go…

To outsiders, it sometimes looks like we’re celebrating a bloody murder. Nothing could be further from the truth, of course. Easter isn’t about death at all. Quite the opposite. Christians all around the world celebrate the fact (yes, I said “fact”) that about 2000 years ago God became man and suffered a horrible death in order to offer us eternal life. That man, Jesus, was mocked, ridiculed, persecuted, prosecuted, and executed by the very people He came to save.

It’s unimaginable the torment He suffered just so you and I could avoid eternal suffering. You can say it’s a fairy tale. But that doesn’t erase the Truth. You can say the story of Jesus was simply written by men with an agenda. But that only shows me you haven’t actually read the book. You can even say eternity doesn’t exist for anyone. But that reveals your personal agenda.

Resurrection Day is all about what happened after Jesus was killed.

He rose from the dead, and the Bible says He was the “firstborn from the dead, that in all things He may have the preeminence.” Simply put…that means He’s tip-top and no other name or person can be or ever shall be higher. And that means He can (and does) offer His eternal life to anyone who will follow Him.

Every day I more clearly understand why Jesus said to follow Him you must hate your “father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters” and even your own life. People will always let you down, but Jesus will never leave you nor forsake you. That “hate” isn’t the kind you’re seeing tossed around the internet and media. Jesus was saying your love for Him needs to be so full that anything else is hate in comparison. When you understand He is the only way you’re ever gonna receive eternal life, I believe your love for Him will increase all the time.

So, don’t let the big, bad world, or even the people to your left or your right, rob you of your joy and your celebration of Resurrection Day 2024. Or, for that matter, any other day of life your Creator has given you. Would you do me a favor and send me a story of how you celebrated the day? I’ll share it here and on my The Power of God’s Love Podcast. And until then, here’s an Easter rhyme for you…

Happy Easter Day

There’s a story you might know
Of a man who was killed some time ago.
He did nothing that was wrong,
But some people made Him suffer for so long.

Still there’s good news you can learn
‘Cause He died to give you what you’ll never earn.
He was nailed up on a cross,
But the people didn’t understand the loss.

Then they took Him to a tomb,
And they laid His lifeless body in that room,
But the story didn’t end there.
There would only be three days He would spend there.

Happy Easter day…He arose!

© 2007

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Love, peace, and music. I wish those for you. And now, let’s get down to business. No, I’m not smokin’ any halo tobacco. It doesn’t take a dope-smokin’, long-haired, hippy freak to talk about the finer parts of life. And, while we’re on the subject, that leads me into some of the benefits of Christian music.

First, there’s no cursing.

Second, there’s no sex.

Third, there’s no cursing.

And did I mention there’s no sex?

Oh yeah, those are the big 4 benefits of Christian music.

But then, another HUGE benefit of Christian music is that it’s an indicator of your NEW character. What’s that you say? You’re curious about the NEW character stuff? Good. Because I was just getting to that.

Paul (that guy who claimed his own Gospel) wrote a letter to the Colossians. And he described what you can see when a man (or woman) has a new character. No, not a part in a movie. An actual compilation of who they/you/he/she are/is. (Sorry, I got too inclusive for a second there.)

Anyway…

Paul said the “new man” should and would follow this outline:

“But above all these things put on love, which is the bond of perfection. And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to which also you were called in one body; and be thankful.”

See? Love and peace. Yes, thankfulness is in there, too. But then Paul went and spinned the tables when it came to music. Because he had the audacity to say you should use music to instruct others and even get on to them. What? With music? Uh-huh.

He actually said it more like this:

“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.”

That’s not exactly what you’ll find in churches these days. So, I don’t think churches truly receive the true benefits of true Christian music. And, yes, that’s a lotta true-based stuff. But for a reason. Because what’s trying to pass for praise and worship music these days are actually repetitious, cotton candy choruses.

But when you try to give churches, and the “pewple” inside, more meaty music, they turn a deaf ear. Mostly.

I speak from experience.

I’m not bitter about it. I AM sad about it. But I also won’t be spinning any cotton candy. So, I pray the music I’ve composed and compiled over the years will be an indication of the treasures I’ve stored up in Heaven. And if that IS how it turns out, then I’ll rejoice at the eternal benefits of my Christian music. And I’ll do my best not to admonish anyone who turned a deaf ear.

And then I can behold the inner man
Through God’s condescending attitude.
Because He chose me as His dwelling place
I choose this consequential servitude.

(from my song Consequential Servitude)

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Have you ever paid attention to the focus factor of a mother bird on her nest? It’s a wonderment. Because birds tend to move around. A lot. And super fast. But when the mother bird is on her nest, she can be so still you almost can’t see her.

I know, because there’s a small mother cardinal in a very small nest up inside our front porch area. And she’s nesting. And we have to really look closely to even see her. Because she basically doesn’t even flinch an inch.

That’s incredible built-in focus factor.

That’s right. I said “built-in.” Because birds (and you and I) don’t happen by accident.

Even as a boy, birds always fascinated me. So did cloud formations. And shooting stars in a sky full of blinking lights. I didn’t think about how my focus on things above me could keep my spirit uplifted. I just found it all so…well…fascinating.

There’s a verse in the Bible that says to “Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth.” Of course, that verse isn’t talking about birds or clouds or stars. Read one verse before that. And you’ll see that the writer referred to things far above. So far, in fact, that they’re found at the “right hand of God”. And my guess is, that’s a lot further, and possibly a lot closer, than we could ever imagine.

You might’ve noticed there’s a lot more stress in the world than there used to be. It really is a world full of what the Bible describes as “wars and rumors of wars,” and “nation rising up against nation.” And there really are famines, pestilences, and earthquakes in many different places.

If you focus on all the stressful things in the world, you can easily and quickly get discouraged. And you might even question the meaning for your life and the lives of the rest of the people on the planet.

That’s why God says to focus “on things above”.

Yeah, look up. Because, in spite of what most of the people in the world might tell you, this ultimate solution to this stressful world is your Creator.

Whether you believe in God or not, you’d better be right. Because there will be consequences either way. Believe God is a man-made myth and the consequences are total darkness. If you’re right. But believe God is your Creator, and that He loves you and wants you to be happy, and the consequences are faith, hope, love, and eternal life. If you’re right.

I fall into the second group. And I know most (if not all) my article and email readers do too. But maybe you’re someone still in the myth camp.

If so, I encourage you set aside your human bias for a bit. And open your mind to the possibility that the almost infinitely complex design in our universe points to an even more complex Designer. When you allow your mind to see that, your dead spirit can be reborn. And it’ll be much easier to look up and focus on things above.

But if that just sounds like more silliness from a corny Christian, then you myth the point.

So be patient; be wary.
Sing songs, and be merry.
Then focus your attention
On more than this world’s dimension!
(lyrics from the song, “Worldliness”)

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A couple of days from now I’ll be sharing a little info about my life of total leisure. But, first, I’d like to share a short blurb on the exciting, and hard-working conveyor belt. And not just any old clunky piece of machinery. This one’s from over the rainbow.

You don’t need a conveyor belt to get over the rainbow.

At least, not if you already live in Kansas. And I did. Live in Kansas, that is. Well, I lived there each summer for several years. My parents split up when I was very young. And I spent school days in a city in Texas and summers in a very small town in Kansas.

And for several summers I was cast into hot, dusty child labor camps. OK, it wasn’t exactly like that. There weren’t any camps. But it WAS hot. And it WAS dusty out there on the windy Kansas hay fields.

Side note (literally): that reminds me of the John Denver song, Matthew. Check it out if and when you get the chance.

The chorus said this:

Yes, and joy was just a thing that he was raised on,
Love was just a way to live and die.
Gold was just a windy Kansas wheat field,
Blue was just the Kansas summer sky.

OK. Back to the conveyor belt.

I spent a lot of time in those windy Kansas wheat fields and hay fields. Corn fields. And other vegetables, too. But the hay fields were the scene for the conveyor story. The hay fields and the hay barns. Yeah, I saw the inside and out of countless barns.

Because I bucked countless bales of hay. Up to 18 hours a day. Six days a week. And I did it for the massive money. Yep. Two cents a bale. That was my “commission.” And before you think that doesn’t sound like much money, you’re right. It’s not much money. So, obviously, the goal was big numbers.

I said countless. But you can figure somewhere around 1200 bales a day? Six days a week. And that included bucking them up on the truck. Then, throwing them off the truck, into the barn, and stacking them up in the barns. And sometimes that’s where the conveyor belt came in. Because many of the barns had plenty of vertical space. And when you stack hay up high enough, you can’t physically throw those bales up high enough.

So, you hook up a conveyor belt to a tractor, fire it up, and send those bales up the belt into an open door on the second floor of the barn. Then, those bales fly off the belt and drop into the barn where you continue stacking.

All this took place under that blue, HOT Kansas summer sky.

For a whopping $120-$144 a week.

Good news about those tiny paychecks. I earned ’em back when gasoline was still 30 cents a gallon. And I could buy a tank of gas, and take a date out for dinner and a movie for about twenty bucks. Maybe even less if we caught a quick burger at a drive through.

And I’ve always remembered those days in the hay fields, as well as even hotter and muggier days as a finish carpenter in Houston, whenever someone thinks I don’t know what real work is. I’ll tell you, in another email, why I bring that up.

And, speaking of something being conveyed, here’s some food for thought from a very famous author.

“He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love, in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins.”

That’s the joy that Matthew (from John Denver’s song) was raised on. So was I. And I hope you were, too. If not, it’s still yours for the asking. Why not get conveyed today. It’s easier than bucking bales.

Stay tuned,

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Have you ever been told you’re not qualified for the job? Or have you ever just felt unqualified for a job or something else in life? It’s common. And, if you’re like most of us, your answer is yes to both questions.

So, it follows that you might feel you’re not qualified to go to Heaven.

I’ve certainly felt that way. Especially when I read words like, “be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding; that you may walk worthy of the Lord…” Whoa. Does that sound like you? And does it sound like anybody you know? It doesn’t sound like me.

I know I sure don’t feel like I’m “filled with knowledge of His will.” And I certainly don’t believe I have ALL “wisdom and spiritual understanding.” So, how in the world can I ever “walk worthy of the Lord?”

Short answer is…I can’t.

Longer answer is…I can. Because (and here’s the good part) it ain’t about ME. And it ain’t about what I can or can’t do. It’s what my Creator and best Friend can do. And what He’s already done.

God qualified me.

And you. And anyone who wants to be one of the “partakers of the inheritance of the saints in the light.” I don’t know about you, but that sounds mighty awesome to me. But just like the old commercials used to say…

But wait. That’s not all!

You and I aren’t only qualified by God, for a spectacular future, we’re also conveyed “into the kingdom.” What?! Into the kingdom? What kingdom? And what does it mean to be conveyed into it?

Well, check your thesaurus and you’ll find other words for “convey.” Like: carry, bring, take, fetch, bear, shuttle, and move. But my favorite is “Transport.” And I think it’s the one that best translates what Paul was telling the Colossians (and you and me).

When you and I decided we’re not all that (and a bag of chips), and when we decided to follow the only One who ever was “all that,” we were conveyed (transported) into the most special place in existence.

The “kingdom of the Son of His love.”

And for you bystanders…that’s Jesus.

And, at the same time that happened, you and I were delivered from the “power of darkness.” Quick note: notice Paul didn’t say we’re delivered from darkness. But we’re delivered from its power over us. Subtle difference. But an extremely important one for anyone who believes God can’t change His mind or His decrees.

So, the reason I shared this little tidbit of logic and reason is because I want you to have hope. Because circumstances in the world can sometimes blur your vision or drown out the Word of promise. But when that happens, be still, listen closely, and look up.

Up is where your Hope will be
For living through eternity.

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Last year I was interviewed by a fellow podcaster whose focus is on the Christian life. He sent me a list of questions he’d be asking during the podcast. And I wrote down my answers.

After I was interviewed I kept these questions and answers…

What is your daily routine? 

Up at 4 to read & write my post for the day. Then, it’s breakfast with my wife and we enjoy our morning talk. And then I write for clients till lunch. After my lunch break I finish client work. And work on my own business projects till dinner

What time do you set apart to read scripture, pray, and call others to check on them? 

Typically early morning. But sometimes, like anybody, I have to be more flexible. Because, for some reason, the whole world doesn’t revolve around me and my schedule.

What moves you to seek scripture for daily living?

I know the source of Life, and He’s also the source of answers for life.

Favorite verse? Why? What is your understanding?

Well, I don’t really have a favorite. But one I really like”because I’m a singer/songwriter…is Colossians 3:16. “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.” 

What are you feeding on right now besides your bible?
(could be books, devotionals, movies, music) and why?

Mostly the help tools in my Logos Bible software because there’s so much there I’ll never reach the end of it.

What does the end of your day look like?  

More alone time with my wife. And we eat, talk, maybe watch a movie. Then to bed, usually by 10 

How important is community to you?

A community of like-minded believers is getting more difficult to find and hold together these days. So, it’s important to stay connected with at least the closest ones. Of course, Jesus experienced the same thing.

What hope can you leave behind for listeners in any stage of faith?

Even if you feel like there’s no hope in your life, think about your capacity to love. Because you know you can love. And knowing that proves you have hope. Because like 1 Corinthians 13:7 says, Love “bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things””

Being interviewed about my Christian life was easy. Because it’s the only lasting part of who I am.

My faith isn’t something I pick up
When I don’t have something else in my hands.
My faith is the heart of who I am
In the One who makes sure my faith expands.

Stay tuned,

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