God Speaks
From: Paul, chosen by God to be Jesus Christ’s messenger, and from Brother Timothy.
2 To: The faithful Christian brothers—God’s people—in the city of Colosse.
May God our Father shower you with blessings and fill you with his great peace.
3 Whenever we pray for you, we always begin by giving thanks to God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, 4 for we have heard how much you trust the Lord, and how much you love his people. 5 And you are looking forward to the joys of heaven, and have been ever since the Gospel first was preached to you. 6 The same Good News that came to you is going out all over the world and changing lives everywhere, just as it changed yours that very first day you heard it and understood about God’s great kindness to sinners.
7 Epaphras, our much-loved fellow worker, was the one who brought you this Good News. He is Jesus Christ’s faithful slave, here to help us in your place. 8 And he is the one who has told us about the great love for others that the Holy Spirit has given you.
9 So ever since we first heard about you we have kept on praying and asking God to help you understand what he wants you to do; asking him to make you wise about spiritual things; 10 and asking that the way you live will always please the Lord and honor him, so that you will always be doing good, kind things for others, while all the time you are learning to know God better and better.
11 We are praying, too, that you will be filled with his mighty, glorious strength so that you can keep going no matter what happens—always full of the joy of the Lord, 12 and always thankful to the Father who has made us fit to share all the wonderful things that belong to those who live in the Kingdom of light. 13 For he has rescued us out of the darkness and gloom of Satan’s kingdom and brought us into the Kingdom of his dear Son, 14 who bought our freedom with his blood and forgave us all our sins.
15 Christ is the exact likeness of the unseen God. He existed before God made anything at all, and, in fact, 16 Christ himself is the Creator who made everything in heaven and earth, the things we can see and the things we can’t; the spirit world with its kings and kingdoms, its rulers and authorities; all were made by Christ for his own use and glory. 17 He was before all else began and it is his power that holds everything together. 18 He is the Head of the body made up of his people—that is, his Church—which he began; and he is the Leader of all those who arise from the dead, so that he is first in everything; 19 for God wanted all of himself to be in his Son.
20 It was through what his Son did that God cleared a path for everything to come to him—all things in heaven and on earth—for Christ’s death on the cross has made peace with God for all by his blood. 21 This includes you who were once so far away from God. You were his enemies and hated him and were separated from him by your evil thoughts and actions, yet now he has brought you back as his friends. 22 He has done this through the death on the cross of his own human body, and now as a result Christ has brought you into the very presence of God, and you are standing there before him with nothing left against you—nothing left that he could even chide you for; 23 the only condition is that you fully believe the Truth, standing in it steadfast and firm, strong in the Lord, convinced of the Good News that Jesus died for you, and never shifting from trusting him to save you. This is the wonderful news that came to each of you and is now spreading all over the world. And I, Paul, have the joy of telling it to others.
24 But part of my work is to suffer for you; and I am glad, for I am helping to finish up the remainder of Christ’s sufferings for his body, the Church.
25 God has sent me to help his Church and to tell his secret plan to you Gentiles. 26-27 He has kept this secret for centuries and generations past, but now at last it has pleased him to tell it to those who love him and live for him, and the riches and glory of his plan are for you Gentiles, too. And this is the secret: Christ in your hearts is your only hope of glory.
28 So everywhere we go we talk about Christ to all who will listen, warning them and teaching them as well as we know how. We want to be able to present each one to God, perfect because of what Christ has done for each of them. 29 This is my work, and I can do it only because Christ’s mighty energy is at work within me.
Source: The Living Bible: BibleGateway.com
We Respond
Reflection: Colossi was another city that Paul wrote to from his prison cell in Rome. He wrote to believers he had never met to correct some doctrinal errors and to encourage them in their faith. Paul praised them for trusting God and loving His people, looking forward to the joys of heaven, and for their changed lives since they had understood God’s great kindness to sinners. Paul didn’t pray for the Colossian believers like we so often do today–for health, safety, protection, or success. He prayed for more intangible, eternal, spiritual things. He prayed that they would: know God’s will, gain spiritual wisdom and understanding, live in a manner worthy of the Lord’s sacrifice, please the Lord, bear fruit in good works, increase in their knowledge of God, receive strength and power from God, attain steadfastness and patience, and joyfully give thanks. To counter the false teaching that believers in Colossi had heard, Paul went on to explain some of the great doctrines of the faith. These include adoption by God, the Church, the Kingdom of God, redemption, forgiveness, and most importantly, the supremacy of Christ.
Prayer: Dear God and Father, I join with Paul in praying for believers in my day. Please help us to understand what it is you want us to do individually and collectively. Please make us wise about spiritual things. May the way we live always please and honor You. May we always be doing good, kind things for others, while at the same time learning to know You better and better. May we also be filled with Your mighty power to keep going no matter what happens, continually filled with Your joy. Thank You for rescuing us out of Satan’s kingdom of gloomy darkness and bringing us into Your kingdom of glorious light. Jesus bought our freedom with His blood and forgave all our sins. Christ Jesus reflected You exactly because He always was God. In creation He made everything and continues to hold it all together. Everything in the seen and unseen realms was made by and for Jesus the Christ to bring Him glory. Thank You that Jesus Christ’s shed blood and death on the cross made peace with God available to everyone. Thank You that because of the Son’s obedience and suffering, we who were Your enemies through our hatred (of You and Your highest creation–people), as well as our evil thoughts and actions have now been brought into Your family and presence. May more and more people fully trust this wonderful news, remain steadfast, and be saved. May Jews, Gentiles, and people everywhere on earth come to know this now unveiled secret: “that Christ in [our] hearts is [our] only hope of glory.” (Colossians 1:27) May Your followers today (myself included) be as faithful as the Apostle Paul in carrying this great message to our own spheres of influence and around the world. AMEN
Action: (Ask God, the Holy Spirit, which one of these He wants you to work on or something else more personal that He points out.)
- I will use this chapter as a guide to pray more effectively for myself and others for whom I pray.
- I will look for ways I can make Jesus more important in my life, then do them.
- I will review the Apostles’ and/or the Nicene Creed for basic doctrines of my faith, and then put it into practice.
- I will politely talk (without arguing) with someone outside of my faith group about Jesus and what He means to me.
Share: I plan to share what I’ve learned with __________.