To the saints and faithful brethren in Christ at Colossae: Grace to you and peace from God our Father. We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, because we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love which you have for all the saints, because of the hope laid up for you in heaven. Of this you have heard before in the word of the truth, the gospel which has come to you, as indeed in the whole world it is bearing fruit and growing - so among yourselves, from the day you heard and understood the grace of God in truth, as you learned it from Epaphras our beloved fellow servant. He is a faithful minister of Christ on our behalf and has made known to us your love in the Spirit. (Colossians 1:2-8 RSV) A prayer of thanksgiving was offered by the great missionary, Paul, to the Church at Colossae. From his opening words, Grace and peace to you through the whole letter he offered great blessings, thanksgiving, and concern. You see, he cared about them. He wished them the best offerings he could, that they receive the great and wonderful personal touches from God and that God would express His great love for them. What greater offering can we give someone than to offer this heartfelt blessing for the Lord of Heaven and Earth to touch them in His infinite love and tender mercy? Then Paul went on to express why he would write this blessing to them. They had touched his heart and encouraged him in his missionary work by being faithful to the calling of Christ. He knew that they were living out their faith and had love for the body of Christ, the church. He knew that they had been touched by the Gospel of Christ because he heard news about these believers in Colossae. They lifted his spirit as he sat in prison. They encouraged his heart that his labor and afflictions were not in vain. So he prayed for great blessings to come upon them. They encouraged him to believe that his work wasnt yet done and that he must continue to pour out his heart to people everywhere to point them to Christ Jesus, our Lord. It must have been their sincerity that moved Paul so greatly. He noted that their faith and love came from the hope of their future reward with Christ. Their hope motivated their actions. They hadnt simply received a personal hope and said, Great, Im saved, only to go on living as they had been previously. They hadnt simply received Gods grace and hoarded it for themselves. They hadnt even received it and only shared it with a few others that surrounded them, neglecting others that they might have deemed unlovable. No, they received the gift of Gods grace and love, the gift of salvation in Christ, and then overflowing in their joy they offered it out for all to receive. Their hope in Christ was so great that they indiscriminately and unreservedly offered it to others. That moved Paul to write to them and tell them how much he was encouraged to rejoice in his own sufferings for their sake (see Col 1:24). May the Spirit of God move in our hearts today to enact the love of God by living it out for others to see. May He move us so that we might offer it for others to receive. May we encourage others along our paths to accept the love of God for themselves. May we all be faithful ministers of Christ on someone elses behalf! And may we all have a wonderful day in His grace! Ron
Posted on: Fri, 14 Mar 2014 12:27:48 +0000
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