Two life changers: The gospel is for everyone. God’s power is for me
By Dean Collins
God has already made choices about matters we may sometimes forget or, worse, ignore. One of his decisions involved who is eligible to receive the good news of Jesus and experience forgiveness, transformation, and eternal life. At the end of Colossians 1, Paul tells us that God chose not only to share his gift with his historically chosen people (who often ignored it), but he also chose the Gentiles to receive the gospel. Paul explained that God appointed him as an ambassador to the ungodly Gentiles. These included Roman pagans, Greek philosophers, and others who did all kinds of ungodly things as a part of their politics, their religions, and their general lives.
We were all once a part of the crowd that would have been treated as excluded from God’s favor, wisdom, and forgiveness. Fortunately, Paul’s mission work expanded across the ancient world, and now it has reached us! Paul declared not only that the Gentiles were eligible for the gospel but that God’s choice to include the Gentiles was fully being embraced daily in great ways.
God’s invitation
Paul explained this mystery that Jesus was for everyone. And he said when anyone receives the gospel, Christ is not only in them but through them becoming the hope of glory for the unsaved. This same promise is available to everyone today, and that is powerful! Our transformation becomes someone else’s hope. It will often be that others become attracted to the good news because they see how the good news has changed us.
We don’t point to how good we are but rather to how good God is. Paul tells us that our proclamation is Christ and not ourselves. Then we can teach others the wisdom of God so they too may grow mature in Christ.
Paul made it clear that sharing God’s message with everyone is only the first step. The second step is teaching new believers and all believers the wisdom of God with all of the proper warnings of the pitfalls and risks of following Jesus. The enemy of God does not like to see the kingdom of God advance. He will interrupt, distract, and stir up division so that new followers of Jesus won’t fully mature. But maturity in Christ is essential to bearing fruit in God’s divine plan.
God’s energy
Paul’s last sentence of chapter one stopped me in my tracks: “For this I toil, struggling with all his energy that he powerfully works within me.”
There’s a lot to unpack in this one sentence. First, Paul states clearly that the teaching of God’s truth is the work. Paul called it toil, and that sounds like work with intensity. It is relentless work. And when we work intensely there is often struggle. Struggling will wear you out.
But then Paul explains something we must not lose or forget. Paul said he is struggling with all his energy that God “powerfully works within me.” Whose energy? Not Paul’s. God provides his energy that he powerfully works in us.
We must not slip into the tendency of thinking that bringing people to maturity in their faith journey is based on our energy. If we do, we will, in fact, wear thin and wear out. What we need is the dynamic energy that God brings to us by his Spirit he placed in us. When we work within the power of God, we accomplish far more than when we attempt to do it on our own. You and I both know we are incapable of doing the work of God in our own strength. We must follow Paul’s example and his instruction and allow God’s energy and life to flow through us.
Yes, there will still be work, maybe even toil. But we will see the work completed, because it is God who will energize us and through us spread his love far and wide.
Your time with God’s Word
Colossians 1:27-29 ESV
Photos by Brock DuPont and Max Bender at unsplash.com
To receive daily posts delivered directly to your inbox, complete the form at the bottom of our home page.
To download a printable version of today’s post, click here.
