This morning as i was reading through the first chapter of Colossians, I was struck by something that I thought I’d share with. I thought that it was of particular interest today, considering the road trip we have just completed. Here’s the passage that caught my eye…
We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, because we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love you have for all God’s people— the faith and love that spring from the hope stored up for you in heaven and about which you have already heard in the true message of the gospel that has come to you. In the same way, the gospel is bearing fruit and growing throughout the whole world—just as it has been doing among you since the day you heard it and truly understood God’s grace. You learned it from Epaphras, our dear fellow servant, who is a faithful minister of Christ on our behalf, and who also told us of your love in the Spirit.
Colossians 1:3-8
In this short text, Paul is telling of his thankfulness for what is going on both the church in Colossae but worldwide, and it struck me that I almost never hear anybody give thanks in prayer for what the Gospel is doing. I must admit that when I think about what I am thankful for, I usually have things of a more personal nature come to mind. I know that on occasion Paul has personal comments and personal things he gives thanks for in his writings, but here he is beginning a letter by telling the recipients that he is thankful for the way the Gospel has changed their hearts, and for the way that the Gospel is spreading and changing lives all over the world.
In writing his message to Colossae, Paul has put God’s priority first in line of all that he will say to them. We know that Jesus commissioned His church with the mission of making disciples by the spread of the Gospel everywhere, and this is what Paul says he is always giving thanks for in his life.
If we were to record our prayers, would they so effectively reflect God’s priorities ahead of our own? Well, I can only speak for myself, but I can admit here and now that maybe I still have a way to go in my priorities. I wonder what we would find if we recorded our prayers in a corporate setting, say in worship on Sunday morning… would our churches’ prayers reflect God’s priorities?
As I write this, my mind is moving to another area in which I am so very thankful. Lord, I am so thankful that when we continue to fall short, You still love us!
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In my own opinion, I think that one of the reasons we neglect to be thankful for the spread of the Gospel in our world is the predominating message in many Christian circles over the last twenty to thirty years that the world is on the downhill slide. The Evangelical mentality of “us versus them” and occupy till Jesus comes has created a type of siege mentality from my viewpoint. This whole mentality sees only negatives and chalks it up to Christ’s imminent return so the perception is that the Church is barely hanging on. The whole fatalistic Evangelical eschatology has created a Church with blinders on so to speak that doesn’t see anything positive concerning the spread of the Gospel much less gives thanks for it. It’s a sad state of affairs really.
You know… you might just have something there! I’ve noticed this attitude myself, this “siege mentality” as you put it. Christians often seems surprised when I tell them that “our side” is the one that is supposed to be on the offensive.
Hmmm… great point, thanks!
I agree completely, and sadly, we must come to grips with the fact that it was NEVER God’s intent for the Church to “fix” the world, as so many are prone to make their focal point. However, the cyclical nature of the truth you’ve highlighted makes it very difficult to undo the tailspin many find themselves in. It isn’t the world that I’m describing here, but the Church, by way of the way it THINKS, may actually be causing that which it describes. I think the problem lies within the secular form of education many “seminaries” espouse.
Interesting thought; you may well be right that. Certainly we’ve lost focus in many cases, with sad results across the board.
When He works in us, He enables us to work in the relationships He has given us to work in, via His gifts and fruit. My take on it, at times, is that His work is done more in the invisible realm than in the visible. This means that we need to work as if we are modern day disciples of D. L. Moody. For more on his way of believing, (being and living,) there is a lot of great stuff at http://www.goodreads.com/author/quotes/5083573.D_L_Moody
Thanks, I’ll check it out!
:o)
I was raised in a Pentecostal church and for the majority of my life I felt as if we were the only true Christians in the world. It wasn’t something that was expressly taught but it was definitely felt within the congregation and so when I use to look at the world church I always saw it as foreign and wrong in some way. I think many of us, even those outside of my own upbringing have been raised with the same implied belief.
This causes us all to become Elijahs in our own caves, crying to God, complaining that we are the only righteous person left on the face of this Earth. It takes time but God gets ahold of some of us and points to the remnant that he has saved back even in these days. I know I have come to see many from very diverse backgrounds seeking out the core beliefs of Christianity and casting off a lot of what they have been raised to believe. When we begin truly seeking after what God told us to believe then our eyes are opened and we can be thankful for one another.
Yes, so true. There are amazing things going on out there in the church, but we often look right past it because it doesn’t quite seem to look the way we pictured it in our minds… at least that’s been my story.
Thank you for the excellent post. I, like you, have read this text probably hundreds of times and not seen that in this text. That is one reason why we must search the Scriptures like the Bereans.
Great point! It’s a life long quest of discovery
Our weaknesses only reflect the wisdom and strength of God within us, let our hearts and mind rejoice in his deliverance of all sinners to repentance…
Amen!