From: October 4, 2023
“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, always thanking the Father” (Colossians 1:11-12 NLT).
The apostle Paul prayed that the believers in Colossae would be strengthened by God’s glorious power. For living and depending on the power of God would give them all the endurance and patience they would need to always live to honor and please the Lord. At the same time, he prayed that the Lord would fill them with joy and thankfulness.
Why did he also pray for their joy and thankfulness? Isn’t endurance and patience enough? Isn’t it enough that we hang in there for God? Why the need for joy and thankfulness too?
Perhaps it’s because living for Christ we are called to be “more than conquerers” (Rom. 8:37), not just hanging on and going through the motions, but living victoriously with joy and thanksgiving. Sure, we are called to endure, yet not with gritted teeth and clinched fists, but with shouts of joy and thanksgiving to God! For both our actions and our attitudes come from depending on God’s glorious power.
Hanging in there is good. But enduring with joy and thankfulness is better.
PRAYER: Dear Father, strengthen us to be faithful today, patiently enduring whatever comes our way. Yet not with downcast faces, but with joy and thanksgiving. Strengthen us not only by Your glorious power but also fill us with Your unconquerable joy. In Jesus’ name, amen.
From: October 4, 2022
LIFE’S MOST IMPORTANT QUESTION ANSWERED
Most philosophers would say that the most important question is an existential one: “What is the meaning of existence?” More specifically, “Who am I and what is my purpose?” Or as the French would say, what is the “raison d’être?” (“reason for being”).
In Paul’s letter to the Colossians, this existential question is answered. Christ is both the agent of and reason for our existence. The Scripture says that all things were created by Him, through Him and for Him. It is this final aspect of Christ’s agency that offers us the most profound answer, namely, that we were made “for Him.” He made us for Himself.
Apart from Christ, life becomes meaningless. Apart from Christ, we are cast adrift on the sea of futility. We neither recognize our Creator, nor know our own identity. So we fill in the blanks with our own answers, but none of them suffice.
Yet in Christ, we find our purpose for being and our true identity. We were made for Him! And we are incomplete and rudderless without Him.
When my children were teenagers, before they would leave the house to go somewhere, I would always tell them, “Remember who you are and whose you are.” I wouldn’t let them leave until they responded with, “I’m a child of God who belongs to Jesus Christ.”
Do you know the answer to life’s most important question?
PRAYER: Dear Father, thank You for Jesus! He is the answer to our questions of identity and purpose. He tells who we are and whose we are. For we were made by Him and for Him. Strengthen us to live today for the One who both made and redeemed us. In Jesus’ name, amen.
From: October 4, 2016
This was Paul’s prayer for the Colossians, that they might “walk worthy of the Lord” who had saved them. The Christian life is not a leap nor a sprint, but a “walk.” It is a daily spiritual discipline of denying oneself and following Jesus. With each step we learn to walk in the Spirit in order to bear the fruit of good works and we grow in our study of God’s Word, knowing Him better and better. Putting away the former things and putting on Christ, we walk with a desire to “fully please” the Lord in all things.
From: October 4, 2015
Paul wrote to the church at Colossae describing their change of spiritual citizenship. Because they had confessed their faith in Christ, the Father transferred them from the dominion of darkness into the kingdom of His beloved Son. God is still accepting new kingdom citizens today. His Son has already paid the price for our redemption. Yet, just as a new American citizen must take an oath of allegiance to the US constitution, so the one desiring kingdom citizenship must confess faith in Christ.
From: October 4, 2014
Creation itself is a general revelation of God to those who would acknowledge it. Yet, the ultimate revelation is Christ. No one has seen the invisible God, but Christ is His “visible image.” If you want to know what God is like, then gaze upon the face of Jesus. Read the gospels and see God’s nature revealed. Through Christ, God has created all, offers redemption and sustains all. Everything was made by Christ and for Christ. You were made for Him. So, turn your eyes upon Jesus. Look full in His wonderful face and the things of earth will grow strangely dim in the light of His glory and grace.