Colossians 1:3-8
Paul is encouraged by the reports he has heard regarding the faith and love of the church at Colossae. Faith and love would be the key words of this passage as well as hope and gospel. The theme of this passage is that the good news message of Jesus Christ is the source of faith and love.
This burst of praise is typical of Paul's letters - he almost always found some way to encourage the people he was writing to, even when he had to address serioulsy wrong theology or theopraxy. He also usually finds a way to remind the church that he is praying for them, which he also does in this letter. In this case, Paul is thankful for the faith this church has in Christ and the love they have for the people of Christ. Paul says that the source of this faith and love is the hope that they have discovered from hearing the gospel from Epaphrus (the one who preached to them and who brought the report back to Paul).
The part of this passage that challenges me is the part about the gospel bearing fruit. I desperately want the gospel to be fruitful in my life and I think that it is. However, my heart yearns to see the Church of Christ in this area of the world be fruitful. I don't mean that no one is coming to Christ and maturing in faith in Southern Alberta but there are so many who have not yet heard the good news message of Jesus and who aren't likely to attend a worship service so are dependent on someone showing them Christ's love and telling them about the cross. I am not pointing fingers because I know that I am in the same boat as many of the church goers in this area. I think the problem is that, unlike the Colossians, we (I) have never truly understood God's grace. I think that because so many of us grew up in the culture of Christianity that we have become numb to our sinfulness and the great work of Christ to forgive our sin and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. I think we have taken for granted the fact that we are God's children even though we truly were his enemies. My fear is that the very fact that we take this for granted may be the evidence that we are not truly made new and made alive in Christ. If we are dead to this great grace, how can we be alive to anything?
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1 comment:
That's a tough thing to think about. Often we do take our salvation for granted. But when we really think of the sacfrifice that Christ made for us, wow is that amazing. May God give us hearts that break for those around us, may his spirit come near us and not let us take his great gift for granted, and may we declare the gospel fearlessly as we should.
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