Paul's amazing prayer life and his burden for both believers and unbelievers is clearly seen in the first few verses of our reading. He prayed not only for those whom he had met, but also for those who had come to Christ through others. Notice his different prayer requests for these people. He wanted them to be comforted, or strengthened and encouraged. We all need this today. False teaching in the Colossian church weakened the bonds of fellowship. It does today. It is an area we need to guard carefully. Paul wanted them to be knit together in love. The same thought is expressed in another way in verse 19. One of the means of strengthening fellowship is to recognize and accept the place each one has in the body of Christ. Then Paul speaks about the full assurance of understanding, or that we might know what our position is in Christ. We will only get to know him better as we enter more fully into what his Word has to say to us. We must not let anything take the place of Christ in our lives, not even service for him. One of the simplest definitions of a Christian is in verse 6 of our reading-one who has received Christ Jesus the Lord. Each of the three names mentioned has a meaning for us. Jesus means Savior. Christ means God's appointed one. Lord, of course, means master or the one who rules over me. Also in verse 6 Paul mentions our walking. Walking is the result of life. It is the continuation of what has begun. As a child grows so it learns to walk. As a Christian grows so he or she learns to walk with Christ. III health or paralysis may prevent physical walking. Spiritual weakness or backsliding can easily prevent our walking with and for Christ. Verse 7 adds two more words-rooted, built up and established. A rooted tree has its source of both security and nourishment in the ground in which it grows. Can you apply that spiritually? Being built up reminds us of a house being built-it is only gradually, bit by bit, that a house is at last completed. Can you think of ways to apply this today to your life? |
沒有留言:
張貼留言