Colossians 1:1-8

Greeting

 1Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother,

 2To the saints and faithful brothers^[a] in Christ at Colossae:

   Grace to you and peace from God our Father.

Thanksgiving and Prayer

 3We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, 4since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love that you have for all the saints, 5because of the hope laid up for you in heaven. Of this you have heard before in the word of the truth, the gospel, 6which has come to you, as indeed in the whole world it is bearing fruit and growing–as it also does among you, since the day you heard it and understood the grace of God in truth, 7just as you learned it from Epaphras our beloved fellow servant.^[b] He is a faithful minister of Christ on your^[c] behalf 8and has made known to us your love in the Spirit.

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What sticks out to me at first is verse 4, where Paul reminds us of the 3 essentials of what it is to be a Christian: faith, love, and hope.  These 3 things remind me of a catchy church mission statement i’ve read–”to be a community of followers of Jesus Christ, committed to live by faith, to be known by love, and to be a voice of hope.” (Mosaic, L.A.)  Like me, you probably have heard these 3 things mentioned by Paul numerous times…thus, it must mean something hugely important if this same message is told to saints in many different places!

I’m thinking there is significance to the order that Paul writes.  Faith is first, because everything else comes from our faith in Christ Jesus.  Through our trust in God, we know He loves us, and such should compel us to love each other, as Christ first loved us and gave Himself up for us.  All this is only possible because of the hope of salvation & eternal life we will have in Heaven at the Father’s side.

This all sounds quite elementary at first…but in reflection, I am convicted that in times where I find it hard to love others, I should not be scrutinizing my relationship with others, but rather, I should be examining my relationship with God–whether or not I am truly embracing surrender, trusting Him through faith, and putting my hope only in Christ…all this reflection in essence is questioning my authenticity as a genuine Christian.

And hence, if you and I truly understand and embrace this Sovereign grace, when we sow the seed of God’s Word deep in our lives, the Fruit we bear will be life changing & God glorifying–a harvest that will testify to God’s renown in our lives.

SDG