Scripture: Colossians 4:2-18   Commentary

Epaphras, a member of your own fellowship and a servant of Christ Jesus, sends you his greetings. He always prays earnestly for you, asking God to make you strong and perfect, fully confident that you are following the whole will of God. I can assure you that he prays hard for you and also for the believers in Laodicea and Hierapolis (Colossians 4:12, 13, NLT).

Observation:

Paul is not alone in teaching, exhorting, and encouraging the Colossians. Epaphras, their own minister who shared the Good News with them (Colossians 1:7), now prays earnestly (Greek agónizomai “to contend for a prize”) for their maturity. Epaphras wants great things for the Colossians—strength, perfection, and confidence in following the whole will of God. Not only does he pray for the Colossians but for other believers in nearby cities.

Application:

Paul concludes Colossians with this directive. “Devote yourselves to prayer with an alert mind and a thankful heart” (Colossians 4:2, NLT). His own evangelistic work depended on the believers’ praying for him (v.3), especially their remembering his chains in prayers (v.3, 18). I need to follow Epaphras’s example and devote myself to praying for other believers’ spiritual well-being. I need to be “alert” to their needs and thankful for the privilege of contending for them in prayer.

Prayer:

Father, thank you for the believers who surround me in a community of faith. Make me alert to their needs. Remind me of their chains. Give them strength to endure their circumstances and to resist temptation. Perfect their faith. Lead them by your Spirit to follow your will, confident in their faith in your Son. In whose name I pray, Amen.

Scripture:   Colossians 3:12-4:1   Commentary

“Since God chose you to be the holy people he loves, you must clothe yourselves with tenderhearted mercy, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience” (Colossians 3:12, NLT).

Observation:

Much like a team uniform, love is the clothing by which the holy people of God are recognized (v.12, 17). The love itself comes from Christ when we allow his message of complete forgiveness of all our own sins to fill us (v. 16). Only then can we “make allowance for each other’s faults” (v.13). Christ’s love for us infuses each of our relationships: believer and believer, husband and wife, parents and children, owner and employee, and believer and unbeliever. No situation, relationship, or circumstance is immune from our “tenderhearted mercy, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience” (v.12).

Application:

How I think of others, what I say to and about others, and what I choose to do or not do for others are of great concern to the Father. These behaviors, both internal and external, are the proving grounds of my faith (John 13:35). In essence, loving others in thought, word, and deed is the work to which Christ has called me.

Prayer:

Father, thank you for loving me and forgiving me of my sins. May the love of your Son permeate every thought I have and every word I say. Guide me through your Spirit to loving actions, and warn me away from those which would do harm. Keep me from the temptation of steering my own selfish way. Mold me to be a holy, thankful, loving representative your Son, our Savior Jesus Christ. In whose name I pray, Amen.

Scripture: Colossians 3:1-11   Commentary

“Since you have been raised to new life with Christ, set your sights on the realities of heaven, where Christ sits in the place of honor at God’s right hand. Think about the things of heaven, not the things of earth” (Colossians 3:1,2, NLT).

Observation:

Having a new life entails having a new perspective. All of our being must belong to Christ, not just our spirit. Therefore, we keep our intellect focused on Christ, the true Reality. We slay the mind-corrupting sins of lying, anger, rage, malice, slander, and dirty language (v.8, 9). We rein in our physical bodies and put to death body-corrupting sins of sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires, and greed (v.5, 6). Our own efforts are inadequate to the task (Colossians 2:23). We must be renewed by Christ as we grow in knowledge of our Creator. Knowledge of him transform us body, mind, and spirit.

Application:

An old saying describes someone as being “so heavenly minded he’s no earthly good.” Yet these verses stand in direct challenge. If I am not heavenly minded, I have no good at all. There is only one Reality and that is Christ. No human ideas, approaches, or life goals—as sensible and reasonable as they may seem to me—can measure up to the Way, the Truth, and the Life (John 14:6). If I lose sight of the heavenly Reality, then I have no share in Christ’s glory when at last his truth is revealed.

Prayer:

Father, keep my sights firmly fixed on your Son. Grant me your grace to walk in his way. Open my eyes to the leading of your Spirit. Cleanse me from my sin. Grow me in knowledge of you. Renew me so that I may be whole body, mind, and spirit. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Scripture:   Colossians 2:16-23     Commentary

For these rules are only shadows of the reality yet to come. And Christ himself is that reality. (Colossians 2:17, NLT).

Observation:

In pursuit of living a life worthy of their calling in Christ, the Gentile believers at Colossae were experiencing information overload. The Jewish believers had ideas to share from their long history and traditions. The Gentiles themselves were acquainted with philosophies that seemed useful. So when fellow worshippers suggest approaches which seem “wise because they require strong devotion, pious self-denial, and severe bodily discipline” (v.23), how is a believer to discern what is truly of God?

Application:

I need to remember that I am not, but Christ, the only reality (v.17), is in charge of my transformation. In his great love, he has already resurrected me to a new life. The gift came about because of his work, not mine. Pursuing Christ himself is what pleases him and brings me more in communion with him and his body—not a method or methodology. When I love him and love others, I remain in him and he calls me “friend” (John 15:9-17).

Prayer:

Father, thank you for transforming me. Guide me through this life by your Spirit to love your Son and share his love with others. Keep me from being distracted from true Reality by human ideas. Give me grace to see and to walk in the Way of your Son. In whose name I pray, Amen.

Scripture:  Colossians 2:6-15        Commentary

Let your roots grow down into him, and let your lives be built on him. Then your faith will grow strong in the truth you were taught, and you will overflow with thankfulness (Colossians 2:7, NLT).

Observation:

The believers at Colosse are new to the faith. Yet they are by no means lacking. Christ had already revealed the great mystery to them of God’s plan to make all believers one in Christ. He had already cancelled the record of the charges against them (v. 14), forgave their sin (v.13), disarmed the evil powers and authorities (v.15), and given them his new life (v.12). They have no need of religious ideas based on worldly philosophies of what would please God. God is already pleased to have the fullness of Christ dwell in them when they received this gift through faith in the Giver.

Application:

My challenge is not to lose sight of what I already have. I must not trade the invisible, incomparable treasures of Christ for the visible, false promises of the religious around me. Jesus remains the Way, the Truth, and the Life. There is no other path. This path is not about doing, but rather about pursuing. All I need to do is set my sights on the reality of my life with Christ, and let heaven fill my thoughts.

Prayer:

Father, thank you for reminding of the great riches you have given me. Continually draw me back to thoughts of heaven and life with Christ. Change how I see myself—not as a trier and striver, but as a possessor of the great riches you have lovingly given me. Take away any fears of intimacy with him that would tempt me to pursue religion rather than Jesus himself. In whose name I pray, Amen.

Scripture: Colossians 1:24-2:5     Commentary

I want them to be encouraged and knit together by strong ties of love. I want them to have complete confidence that they understand God’s mysterious plan, which is Christ himself. (Colossians 2:2, NLT).

Observation:

Suffering takes on purpose in what it accomplishes in, for, and through us. Christ suffered to bring about God’s plan of salvation for all who believe, both Jew and Gentile. Paul suffered to proclaim that message. In his continued suffering through imprisonment, he penned 13 books of the New Testament, proclaimed the Good News to Caesar’s household, trained evangelists, and prayed for the maturity of a blended, unified church. Perfection in Christ (v.28) comes when we allow the painful pruning away of our prejudices toward others.

Application:

What most encourages me about the Good News, I also find the most challenging: Christ loves me; therefore, I love others. If I fail to love, I fail to comprehend God’s mysterious plan. I rob myself of his treasures of wisdom and knowledge (v.3). I am not capable of loving this way; I must depend on Christ’s mighty power (v.29). I must allow this hard work and struggle toward perfection in Christ to remake and transform me.

Prayer:

Father, I confess that I hold myself apart from others. Forgive me for not loving others as your Son has loved me. I ask that you bring about the painful work of transformation in me. Create in me the strong ties of love to other believers. Fill me with compassion for those who do not yet know your Son. In whose name I pray, Amen.

Scripture:  Colossians 1:15-23     Commentary

Yet now he has reconciled you to himself through the death of Christ in his physical body. As a result, he has brought you into his own presence, and you are holy and blameless as you stand before him without a single fault. But you must continue to believe this truth and stand firmly in it (Colossians 1:22-23a).

Observation:

Christ who holds all creation together has given us a new identity. We are no longer enemies with evil thoughts and actions. We are now at peace, reconciled to God, and holy and blameless without a single fault. We did not achieve this identity; Christ gave it to us. It is the reassuring truth of the Good News.

Application:

How would my life be different if I lived fully alive to the truth that I am holy, blameless, and without a single fault? Would prayer time be more joyous? Would I worry less and laugh more? Would I stop comparing myself to others and be less critical of both them and me? Would I see myself as more capable? Would I easily pray huge, outrageous prayers—knowing that healings and blessings are “icing on the cake” because Christ has already made all believers faultless?

Prayer:

Father, thank you for Jesus. Thank you that you were pleased to live in him so that he could reconcile me to you and bring me into your presence. Grant me your grace to stand firmly in the truth of who I am in Christ. Transform my thoughts and anchor my heart to yours, so that I may live confident of your love and your joy in making me your child. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Scripture: Colossians 1:1-14     Commentary

We ask God to give you complete knowledge of his will and to give you spiritual wisdom and understanding. Then the way you live will always honor and please the Lord, and your lives will produce every kind of good fruit. All the while, you will grow as you learn to know God better and better (Colossians 1:9b-10, NLT).

Observation:

Paul has not met the believers of Colossae. He knows of them through Epaphras’s report (v.7,8). Yet Paul is praying for them and has been praying for them since he learned of their faith (v.9). He thanks God for them (v.3) and prays for them to be filled with joy and thankfulness (v.11,12). The knowledgeable apostle could have made any number of requests, but he focuses on three: complete knowledge of God’s will and spiritual wisdom and understanding.

Application:

I frequently find myself tempted to comment on other believers’ lives, especially those with whom I am not personally acquainted. I rationalize it by telling myself that they will never know. Yet Paul who was “chosen by the will of God to be an apostle” (v.1) does not criticize; he prays. He prays for the believers’ complete knowledge, spiritual wisdom, and understanding. That prayer brings about lives pleasing to the Lord, something my criticism could never produce. The next time I am tempted to pass judgment, I want to pray Paul’s simple prayer for others and for me.

Prayer:

Father, forgive me for wasting opportunities to pray for others. Fill me with thankfulness for their presence in the body and for the gifts that they bring. Fill us all with wisdom and understanding that we may grow together to know you better and better and be fruitful servants of your Son. In whose name we pray, Amen.