Sunday 6 Jan 2013

Sunday Reading: Colossians 1:1-8

Key Verse: Colossians 1:5
5  For the hope which is laid up for you in heaven, whereof ye heard before in the word of the truth of the gospel;

Devotion:
Here in Paul’s first epistle to the Colossians we find a very clear declaration of what Christianity should be about. Paul lifts up his praise to God our Father in Heaven being the Father of Jesus His only Son whom he also praises and the Holy Spirit whom he knows that they praise too. His praise is that they have embraced God’s Word not in the strict ways in which the Jews had but according to how Jesus had taught them through the apostles and other disciples.

We have to take on board the Word of God and apply it to our lives, not just to have it as a list of things to be done or to aim for, but as a core objective in our lives. Praising God is just the start of this, but it is also central in that when we do praise God we lift up His ways and that encourages us to follow those ways as well. We know that Christ lifted up prayers on our behalf all the time and so we should one for another as well because that is the example Christ has lain down for us. This is what the church at Colossae was doing.

It was very evident from their lives through the words passed on by the disciples teaching them at the time that these people were full of hope for what lay ahead of them. They fully believed in the Gospel truth and they were full of hope for their own futures through what they were being taught from God’s Word. That hope was building up their own faith and that faith was spilling out to others giving them hope in turn. They were being excellent witnesses of God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit.

What more does God want other than to hear our praise being lifted up to Him knowing that that praise is bolstering our own beliefs and encouraging us to not just believe in Him but to do His good will as well. That is the best way to spread the Gospel; to be a part of it and to make it a part of your life. To live it as fully as one can.

Points to Ponder:
How would you describe your life?

Are you living for God?