2016-08-05
Good Morning Dear Ones,
Last week, I was led to write about rules for Christian households from COL 2: 18-27. Many of the concepts found in EPH 5: 22-6: 4 were repeated here. Wives should submit to their husbands, and husbands should never be harsh with their wives. Children should obey their parents. Fathers should not embitter their children, causing them to become discouraged. Work with all your heart, as if working for the Lord and not men. Remember, we are serving the Lord Jesus Christ. This paragraph also included directions for the relationships ancient Christians have with slaves, as well.
Today, we will look at some final directions found in COL 4: 1-6. It begins with, “Masters, provide your slaves with what is right and fair, because you know that you also have a Master in heaven.” That Master is the Lord Jesus Christ. These directions continue, “Devote yourselves to prayer, being watching and thankful. And pray for us too, that God may open a door for our messages, so that we may proclaim the mystery of Christ, for which I [Paul] am in chains. Pray that I may proclaim it clearly, as I should. Be wise in the way you act toward outsiders; make the most of every opportunity. Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasons with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone.” Further into this series of messages, I’m led to write in much greater detail about a number of the issues taken up in these beginning messages. For now, I feel directed to discuss these six verses in COL 4.
We are directed to “devote ourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful.” I personally was slow to do this, as I learned more about being a Christian. This was despite being surrounded by humble people who did exactly what they should. I didn’t originally believe in the power of prayer, but I’ve learned through spending 15 years heading a prayer chain just how inaccurate my original ideas were. Watching people healed of hideous diseases, able to walk forward in their own path to eternal life, and even coming to know that the faithful do go to eternal fellowship with the Lord in heaven have forged this change. My own spiritually adopted sister passed away three years ago, and this faith gained helped me to come to acceptance of what happened. We had been very close and lived together every summer up until then. Prayer has become a huge part of my life, and I’m deeply grateful to the Lord for this blessing. I was stunned at the number of people who prayed for my recovery when I was so ill in ’06 and had to have a 5 ½ hour surgery. And yes, I could feel their prayers! I feel the same tension Paul did to express the Gospel of Jesus Christ effectively in the course of my work for “In Search of Shalom.” Every one of us who believe in Jesus needs to look for the opportunities we have to witness to our faith and to do so effectively. Paul was imprisoned for his efforts, and we are blessed not to be. We aren’t told ahead of time who will listen to our witnessing and who won’t. This tells us that we need to approach outsiders (non-believers) with politeness, patience, and kindness. We need to let them know we are interested in where they are in their beliefs and to meet them there. Perhaps one of the most important things any of us can do is to pray first, before doing any task for the Lord. If my experience is a teacher, I can assure that He will lead and answer.
PRAYER: O Lord, we come to You to offer our reverence and love, to acknowledge Your generous and kind Spirit. You are a God we can count on to hear our prayers and answer them [PS 116: 1]. You not only hear those prayers, but You teach us to discern between wants and needs, to turn to You first when at a crossroads, and to rely on You in general for wisdom and righteousness. Even the least likely of us can serve You, because You provide many opportunities for us to reach out to others and grow in our spiritual maturity. You open communication with us through our reading of the Scriptures (Your word) and prayer. You are always here for us in a way no other human can be. When we are ill, You heal us through Your Spirit; when we need protection You stand in the gap for us. Our hearts can sing PS 145: 18-19, “The Lord is near to all who call on Him, to all who call on Him in truth. He fulfills the desires of those who fear Him; He hears their cry and saves them.” We are shown how to conduct our lives as families living in Christian homes. The Lord wants us to live rightly and to treat others with the same love that Christ modeled for us. MICAH 6: 8, “He has showed you, O Man, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God.” We gather here to thank and praise You, for being the wonderful God You are, saying this prayer in the holy/mighty name of Jesus Christ. Amen .
NEXT WEEK: There is a particular tension in Paul’s prayers for his own ministry. At the time he wrote the letter to Colossae, Laodicea, and Hierapolis, a heresy was being born called the Colossian heresy. It was the forerunner of Gnosticism, a competing belief system to Christianity. Paul knew this was happening and wanted to strengthen Christianity against it. The Colossian heresy was a mixture of ceremonialism, asceticism, secret knowledge, deprecation of Christ, and reliance on human wisdom and tradition. Next week, we will take a look at Gnosticism, the heresy that grew out of the Colossian one. In the meanwhile, we need to be reminded of PR 3: 5-6. “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight.” I stand as believing that God’s knowledge and discernment is so much better and stronger than ours, that we would be foolish not to turn to Him for advice and direction. Another human being doesn’t have anything like what God can give us. In our lives, we can turn to God’s matchless wisdom and come away living righteously. What a great blessing that is! And yes, what a great God we have! Praise and thanks be to Him!
Grace Be With You Always,
Lynn
JS 24: 15
© Lynn Johnson 2016. All Rights Reserved.
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