Tag: Colossians

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Heads Up!

Reading Time: 2 minutes

I remember my sons’ city-league baseball coaches telling the team in the field – “head’s up!” It was a call to be alert, stay in the game, don’t allow your eyes or thoughts to wander off.

The Apostle Paul brings a clarion call to the churches in Colossae, and to our own lives, to a similar, but much higher plain. Set your sights on the realities of what is above. Inquire higher!

But how do we do that Paul? There are so many shifty and shiny things going on around us right now. Paul uses the word for “think”, phroneó, to admonish us to shift our thoughts, to think as a visceral and cognitive process, describing more than focusing our mind, but also engaging our heart and emotions to fix our attention elsewhere. “To the things above,” Paul writes.

Paul does not use the word heaven, he just refers to what is above us, not just physically, but spiritually – the realms, where the reality of this life exists. Paul is not speaking of a dualistic existence. As we discover in the next several verses, he is speaking of getting our minds out of the gutters of sin and the magnetic pull of disordered desires within us. Heads up to pull our heart and mind away from, ”earthly things lurking within you.” Whoa! Paul leaves no room for us to imagine what those “earthly” things might be – he lists them! “Have nothing to do with sexual immorality, impurity, lust, and evil desires. Don’t be greedy, for a greedy person is an idolater, worshiping the things of this world,” Colossians‬ ‭3‬:‭5‬.

It turns out this encouragement is also a warning, “Pull your head out,” and look up to not only where Christ is seated, but also to where God is working to ”renew us, making us more like Jesus,” Colossians‬ ‭3‬:‭10‬! The “game,” here in this life, is to grab with gusto, everything we desire and live for ourselves. But the reality of God tells us those things are deadly and will never fully satisfy nor fulfill us. It is only through aggressive obedience that we can shift our thoughts to Christ, who is life. So head’s up and get back into the real life God has called us to!

Prayer

​Dad,
It is so easy to be distracted, to be drawn back into former things, former life, former decisions. Those patterns and paths were so deeply carved into my life as a young man. Yet, I hear your voice, your whispered warnings to look up and stop looking back! That life, those desires were not of you nor from you. Help me to keep looking up and focus on the realties of what Christ has done! Thank you for your daily mercy and grace. Amen.

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What’s in your closet?

Reading Time: 3 minutes

“Since God chose you to be the holy people he loves, you must clothe yourselves with tenderhearted mercy, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience. Make allowance for each other’s faults, and forgive anyone who offends you. Remember, the Lord forgave you, so you must forgive others. Above all, clothe yourselves with love, which binds us all together in perfect harmony. And let the peace that comes from Christ rule in your hearts. For as members of one body you are called to live in peace. And always be thankful.”‭‭Colossians‬ ‭3‬:‭12‬-‭15‬ ‭NLT‬‬

The Apostle Paul pulls language from the OT and threads it into the new context of Godly living. Be the Holy People God chose! As the “eklektos,” chosen out, elect, choice, specially selected, we should look and act like Jesus. FYI, for you Lego fans, the root word of chosen is “légō” (originally, “lay down to sleep,” used later of “laying an argument to rest,” i.e. bringing a message to closure; properly, to say (speak), moving to a conclusion.

When I was a youth I wore whatever was comfortable, definitely not fashionable. But when my relationship with my girlfriend, Robin, got more serious, she encouraged me to dress a little more appropriate for certain occasions, taking into mind the purpose and people who would be at a function. She wanted to help up my choices because I was maturing and needed to dress accordingly.

The Apostle Paul uses the visual object lesson of clothing, as a way to communicate that we can and should begin to wear the style of Jesus as God is changing our hearts on the inside. Using the word, “enduo,” put on, clothe (another), he writes that it’s time to start wearing the qualities of Jesus. Not to fake or fool anyone, but to have our outward behaviors better reflect the inner work of the Holy Spirit. Grab a new top of mercy in our heart, toss on a kindness shirt, put on a new pair of humility pants paired with some gospel peace shoes. These “inner workings” can now be seen and experienced by others.

The most striking reason Paul tells the churches to wear these new clothes, this “holiness” brand of God, is mostly for each other. Paul is talking about how we dress and treat each other, fellow followers of Jesus. It is “church wear,” but not for showing up at a building on Sundays. It’s how we now “dress” to remind each other of the amazing changes the Holy Spirit is making in us and how we should be deliberate and determined to wear all new outward behaviors. Paul’s suggested clothing line is also known as the fruits of the Spirit! Believers should be more interested in wearing Spirit-wear than the old, unfashionable, flesh-wear! Paul’s challenge to us, start dressing like a believer when we’re around each other because it’s likely MORE challenging to do so with each other in comparison to dressing for un-believers. What’s in your closet? What are you wearing today?

Prayer

Dad,
Paul is a genius! Who would have thought about this whole idea of not just WWJD, what would Jesus do, but WWJW, what would Jesus wear? Of course Jesus would be wearing mercy! I’m sure your Shalom Peace looked great on him. Somehow people who had never met him before nor heard of him were drawn to him because of these extraordinarily beautiful outfits tailored by the Holy Spirit! No one could wear gentleness like Jesus. What a challenge this is for me, for us to not only allow you to keep working on our heart to mold us into the image of your Son, but to begin to choose matching outfits for our day reflect the true beauty of that change. When I think about what’s in my spiritual closet, I want to remember to put on the qualities and behaviors of Jesus everyday.

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Paul’s neighborly prayer.

Reading Time: 3 minutes

“So we have not stopped praying for you since we first heard about you. 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 ‭1‬:‭9‬-‭10‬ ‭NLT‬‬

I’ve been thinking and talking about how to be a neighbor, a good neighbor. I believe it’s all about listening and watching for opportunities, being led by the Holy Spirit. Times where we should see moments that appear to be odd or random as providential not accidental. Those moments could be happen at the grocery store, the gas pump, the quick-serve lunch or while walking through our own neighborhood.

I think it’s important to swap names, introducing ourselves like well-mannered people used to do. I think it’s important to write those names down to be able to do the exact thing that Paul is doing with the folks he met in Colossae. To be able to remember people’s name, because it’s very important for them to be seen and known. The other is to speak their name, before God, in prayer. Then using Paul’s prayer as a template, we can begin to pray for them and trust God for future moments of opportunity to love and serve our new friends.

Paul’s prayer is simple and can be easily memorized. We can ask God to give our neighbor and new friend a complete knowledge of his will, spiritual wisdom and understanding. Then we can pray that God will help them to live a life that honor and pleases God, producing every kind of good fruit (think of the 9 fruits of the Spirit). Then, wanting them to keep going and growing, that they would learn to know God better and better.

This prayer, that Paul prays over Colossae’s community of faith affirms something else I believe. Something simple, but should remind every one of us as believers that we are all responsible for. The word is DISCIPLE. And the thought is BE ONE, MAKE ONE. If we are a disciple, a follower of Jesus, we should be learning about God more and more, just like Paul stated. However, as believers, we should also be doing what Jesus commanded as he left for heaven. We should all be about making disciples. Who are you following, and who is following you? Who are you walking with to strengthen your faith, and, who is walking with you to do the same.

Being a good neighbor has the potential to being a good friend and hopefully that can turn into being a disciple by having someone follow you in your faith. Jesus had a group of 70 following him. Jesus chose to focus on 12 of them. But he specifically mentored 3 of them. This pattern is for all of us who say we are followers of Jesus! Who’s your 70, 12 and 3?

Prayer

Dad,
I am so thankful to not only follow you, but also have several men and women that have poured into my life. Some have discipled me, a few have mentored me. Thank you for Paul’s written pray for the folks in Colossae. It helps me know what to pray for with so many people on my own “neighbor” list as well as those who more closely follow me as I follow Christ. Most of all, thank you for continuing to help me grow and learn in wisdom and understanding, as well as grow in my faith.

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Praying with a woke mind and grateful heart.

Reading Time: 2 minutes 
“Devote yourselves to prayer with an alert mind and a thankful heart. Pray for us, too, that God will give us many opportunities to speak about his mysterious plan concerning Christ. That is why I am here in chains. Pray that I will proclaim this message as clearly as I should.” Colossians‬ ‭4:2-4‬ ‭NLT‬‬

If I don’t like the things happening all around me, I should PRAY. Paul’s admonition to the churches (and us) – PRAY! I’ve been practicing this evening and morning routine of giving everything to God just before I sleep and right after opening my eyes in the morning. No checking late night texts or early emails. And, to have an alert mind and thankful heart.

Paul uses this Greek word only used here in the New Testament, grēgoreúō – to be vigilantly woke. No kidding! Believers need to be woke in prayer. That coupled with a “eucharistos” heart – a well favored, grace-filled heart is a powerful way to approach any situation on any given day. Paul then not only encourages this prayer posture in tough times, he asks for MORE opportunities himself – while in prison! It’s as if Paul is wanting more woke gratitude to leverage it to even more effectiveness in his witness.

He asks for more ways to speak these mysteries, these secret, hidden without a Spirit initiated revelation moments with people. Paul, this giant of evangelism in the first century wants and prays to be even more clear about the gospel, speaking to the hearts of humans that God has already been working on.

With the Holy Spirit at work there is no such thing as a “cold call” when talking to someone! God has already been wooing and working on every possible way to reach them with His love, grace and forgiveness. These perceived serendipitous moments are divine appointments. Paul understood this and asked the churches to pray with him for more of those moments.

Do I pray that way? Mostly I am OVER concerned with my own agendas, frustrations and fears. My prayers have no room, even with woke gratefulness, to ask for more opportunities to share about Christ. I need to hear Paul’s humble admonishment and leave a little room for these supernatural moments of opportunity!

Prayer

Dad,
Wow, when reading Paul’s words, inspired of the Holy Spirit, I feel the embarrassment and challenge to not be so protectively selfish in my prayers. Of course, I am only thinking of what presses in on my mind. But I can leave a little bit, just the edges of my brain-field for these mysterious moments Paul wrote about. Help me not be completely consumed by my own agenda that I forget your BIG agenda for all of us who follow Jesus.