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Each week or so in this space there will be a short devotion based on a reading from the daily lectionary for that week.
June 01, 2010
Colossians 2:1-9
I want you to know how much I am struggling for you and for those at Laodicea, and for all who have not met me personally. 2My purpose is that they may be encouraged in heart and united in love, so that they may have the full riches of complete understanding, in order that they may know the mystery of God, namely, Christ, 3in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. 4I tell you this so that no one may deceive you by fine-sounding arguments. 5For though I am absent from you in body, I am present with you in spirit and delight to see how orderly you are and how firm your faith in Christ is.
6So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live in him, 7rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness.
8See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the basic principles of this world rather than on Christ. 9For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form. (NIV)
Everyone struggles. However, the only people who struggle on purpose are those who have a goal. An athlete struggles through difficult workouts in order to get better. A farmer struggles through hard labor in order to get a good harvest. A parent struggles through illness in order to care for his or her children.
Paul struggled for the sake of his brothers and sisters in Christ. He wanted these people to know of his struggle, not so that they would say, "Isn't that Paul a swell guy?" but rather that they might be encouraged. This encouragement, to see that even in struggles God kept Paul in faith and blessed him, to see that Christ is our Lord and Savior no matter what happens, would serve Paul's readers well as their faith was attacked by false teachers who pointed to all sorts of things other than Christ.
I pray that I may struggle for you, and that you may struggle for each other, that we may be an encouragement to each other to remain in Jesus, to let him be our life, to seek to know him better and grow in him through word and sacrament. This way our faith is strengthened as we see and understand better how in Christ, the true God and our only Savior, we are forgiven of all our sins and heirs of heaven with Christ. Without this growth, we fall away.
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