- Colossians 1:9-14
This passage has stuck in my mind for quite some time now, and at first I thought it was because it sounded so eloquent and "spiritual" (which it does) but I later realized that it was more than that. It outlines how our lives should reflect God's goodness to us, how we can live our lives to please Him and bring Him glory.
Bearing fruit in every good work...that makes me want to take out all the things I do for myself, everything that deprecates the value of God in my life. The things that I do to "relieve stress", "let go", and "make me content". Why would I want to let them go? Because they don't bear fruit. None of it is helping anyone but myself, which in the end actually hurts me because it hinders me from getting closer to God. Instead, He calls us to live servant lives, so that we may bear fruit in our witnessing to others and shine light upon great God's love is.
Growing in the knowledge of God...reading and meditating on the Word. I can't think of any better way of getting to know God better. The more we know Him, the more we grow. It's like any human relationship. You and the other person get closer when you take the time to get to know each other. Know what he hates, what he loves, what makes him smile, what makes him sad. When we know more of God, we know more of ourselves and how inept we can be, but we can be encouraged by it too to realize that with God we can do all things. Even when we feel like there's no way we can get rid of this one habit of ours, God proves His power by bringing us out of it. But we have to know Him first. Or at least make a serious effort.
Being strengthened with all power so that we may have great endurance and patience...Why do we need strength? Why does anyone need strength? For protection. God gives us strength to prepare us to battle the enemy, evil. Once we have been equipped with the strength that comes from our faith, we can endure the hardships and be patient in our sufferings. For since we have the power of the Holy Spirit with us, we cannot be knocked down by sin. The Spirit constantly leads us toward lives of righteousness and by invitation, He will guide our lives. When the battle is long and seemingly never-ending, we need that endurance and patience to make it to the end, and only God provides that because He is mightiest. He's like our Mighty Morphin' Power Ranger. Without Him, we only have human strength, but with Him, he can morph us into anything He wants, so that we can work for His kingdom. Only unlike Power Rangers, our God has no limit, and neither does His power to strengthen us.
Joyfully giving thanks to the Father...this pretty much summarizes what needs to be done in response to God's goodness towards us. Giving thanks. It's almost Thanksgiving, and as usual, there is just too much to give thanks for. It just goes to show how much He does for us, and how reluctant, sometimes, we are to admit it. But what is the harm in sincerely giving thanks? It just requires us to take away any credit to ourselves. Giving thanks to God produces a deeper love for our Lord because it causes us to see and reflect upon His perfect character and how our relationship with Him is personal. However, this personal relationship can lead to dangerous traps. It's like when your best friend does something special for you. Afterwards, you think, "Should I say thank you? Would that sound cheesy? Yeaaa...she already knows I'm thankful, I don't need to say anything." Wrong. The lack of a thankful heart is rooted in selfishness. You can't see the reason to give thanks because you don't feel like the other person needs to hear it; you can only focus on your joy and happiness. That happens with God too. We receive a blessing, and yay, we are filled with joy, but we forget to send praises back to Him, who caused it to happen in the first place. And when we forget, we just think that God already knows us, He doesn't need to hear another "Thanks God" from me. But we're not trying to satisfy God's wants by giving thanks; He doesn't even need us. By giving thanks, we shift the focus to Him, the rightful subject, and not ourselves because we connect those blessings to the goodness and love of Christ, not because we deserve it or "it's our time to get something good". He has giving us the inheritance to His kingdom...how could we not give thanks? Here is God, who doesn't need to do anything for us, but He has done everything...how could we not stand in awe of His presence and give thanks?
