FBC Daily Devotions

⁹For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you and asking God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all spiritual wisdom and understanding. ¹⁰And we pray this in order that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God… (NV)

Have you been paralyzed because you simply did not know what the Lord’s will was for you? What is the Lord’s will for me? That question comes up a lot, especially by kingdom-seeking, God-loving people. Verses like v. 9 above or Romans 12:2 add to the stress and paralysis of people’s lives due to indecision and fear that one might miss God’s will for them. Again this dilemma produces a great deal of angst in many committed followers of Christ.

Let me suggest that God’s will for us is more about the way we live our lives, not so much what we do. Paul’s prayer for the Colossians is that they might have complete knowledge of God’s will, full of spiritual wisdom and understanding. But the purpose of his prayer is not that they might do the right thing, but that they might (1) live a life worthy of the Lord; (2) please Him in every way (that includes more than behavior); (3) bear fruit in every good work (notice the purpose is fruit not work); and (4) grow in the knowledge of God (notice not knowledge of work, but of God).

I see Paul’s prayer more about the people gaining an understanding of God’s heart and will for the kind of people that please Him and honor His good name. God wants inner transformation so that whatever we do with our lives, whatever we do moment by moment, it will be worthy of God, pleasing to Him, affecting lives, and helping us know Him better and better. You know, I struggle enough just trying to live that kind of life. If I added to that the burden of trying to know God’s specific will for me, I might as well stay in bed. I’m not saying that God doesn’t have a specific will for us, I just don’t think He makes it known very often. Should I do this or should I do that? I have never found in Scripture someone who did something with the right motives, the right heart, and with God-centered faith be rebuked for doing the wrong thing. They may be redirected at some point, but that is all part of God’s sovereign plan in my mind. Again I’m not suggesting we don’t seek God’s guidance, but what I am saying is that God is more interested in our character and heart than what we do. If we will live by faith with the right character, heart, and motive, God will be pleased. My encouragement for you today is to focus on the way you live not so much on what you should do. I know sometimes those overlap, but remember, what we do should flow out of who we are.

Our passage this week is Col. 1:9-14 – a prayer of Paul for the Colossians. It is, as always, a very rich, very full prayer. As is common in Paul’s writings, he writes incredibly long sentences (indeed, verses 9 through 20 compose one run on sentence in the Greek). It is difficult to say anything about God and Christ without stringing together one blessing after another. That’s just how awesome God is.

Today, read through this week’s passage: Col. 1:9-14. Take note of two things: what does Paul pray for, and why does he pray them? I’ll share about some of those things during the week. Again, this is a very rich passage; I encourage you to really meditate and reflect on the significance of Paul’s words. Jot down (physically or mentally) some ideas that are born out of the text, and let it soak in. I trust God will honor the time you spend with Him and His word.

“…You learned it from Epaphras, our dear fellow servant, who is a faithful minister of Christ on our behalf, and who also told us of your love in the Spirit.”

A few Sundays ago I shared that the love of God must start on the inside before we can start lovng on the outside. But grasping God’s great love for us – the breadth and length and height and depth of God’s love (Eph.3:8) – is not something we can manufacture in our own determination and strength. Paul says in Romans 5:5:

“…For we know how dearly God loves us because He has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with His love.” (NLT)

It is the Holy Spirit that fills our hearts with God’s love. It is the Spirit’s power that enable us to grasp that great love of God (Eph. 3:16-19). Is it possible to truly love without the Spirit? I’m not sure, but Paul could have mentioned the Colossians love. Period. No love of the Spirit, just love. But the Colossians must have revealed an incomprehensible love that could have only come from the Spirit’s love poured out in their hearts.

Is your love incomprehensible? Is your love coming from the Spirit’s pouring out of God’s love into your heart? I encourage you today to pray that God would help you really grasp His love for you, and allow that love to flow into your life. It’s something I’ve been thinking about all week, and as I consider God’s love for me, it’s hard not to go through the day, not with the weight of “I should do this or that”, but rather with a certain freedom to do the right things. It’s hard to explain, really. I hope that will be your experience as well. May God lead you to love others today with a certain incomprehensible love.

“All over the world this gospel is bearing fruit and growing, just as it has been doing among you since the day you heard it and understood God’s grace in all its truth.”

Have you ever avoided or given up on a project or task because it looked so daunting and difficult? It happens all the time, doesn’t it? I heard a true story on CarTalk where a man could not for the life of him figure out how to get his engine running smoothly. He tried everything until he finally he gave up and brought his car in to his mechanic. The mechanic asked him what it was worth to him to fix it, to which the car owner replied something like, “I’ll give you $100 if you can fix it quickly.” The mechanic took his offer and went back to the car. In a matter of a few minutes (or less), the car was fixed. The car owner was shocked at the speed and ease with which the fix was made, so much so that he was unwilling to pay the agreed upon $100 fee. Should the car owner have paid the $100 for a few minutes of work? Should the mechanic have charged the owner a fee for such an easy fix? That’s for you to think about, but in the end, that mechanic knew how to fix the car. He possessed the right knowledge. He understood the problem, and he knew how to fix it.

A lack of understanding or knowledge can make a small problem look insurmountable. But when one possesses the right knowledge, he can accomplish so much more in life. Knowledge and understanding has a way of bearing fruit.

Such is the case with the gospel of God’s grace. In our verse today, a true understanding of “God’s grace in all its truth” was “bearing fruit and growing all over the world”. Understanding God’s grace is foundational to bearing fruit because it recognizes a complete dependence on God and a true understanding of our weakness and inability to do anything apart from Him. It is not until we truly understand God’s grace in our lives that we will begin to bear fruit, the fruit of God, the fruit of the Spirit, the fruit of the kingdom.

I am impressed by the emergence of an emphasis on helping a world entrenched in poverty. Perhaps never before in history have resources been so readily available to end this tragedy. That said, we must remember that apart from God, all attempts to help are done in our own strength. In fact, the needs are so great that it would be impossible to conquer the needs of the world without the strength of God. Hence, there must be an understanding of God’s grace in our own lives; there must be a change from within if there is to be lasting change on the outside. It is my personal belief that when we understand the grace of God, the desire to meet needs will become more and more natural as we grow in our understanding of it. It is far too easy to “go fix it” without a proper perspective on God’s grace.

So today, take some time to dwell on God’s grace in your life. Consider what He has done for you. Consider the privilege it is to be His child. I think in the end, an understanding of God’s grace is priceless because it will bear much fruit.  (So I guess that guy should have paid the $100?)

Reread Colossians 1:1-2 and think back over Sunday’s message. How was God speaking to you? How can you apply that TODAY?