ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHING
August 4, 2021
Scripture: Colossians 1:11-12
May you be made strong with all the strength that comes from his glorious power, and may you be prepared to endure everything with patience, while joyfully giving thanks to the Father, who has enabled you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the light.
Thought for the Day: Paul was preparing his audience for the challenges and discomfort that would come with following in the ways of Jesus. Paul hoped his readers would find strength to endure, and to do so with patience. If Paul was attempting to give a sales pitch for Christianity, he really needed to find a softer approach. Maybe lead with the benefits and find a way of glossing over the potential for pain. I say that, yet sadly I hear a lot of it from pulpits throughout our country. Preachers downplay, even dismiss the idea of sacrifice. It is done, in part, out of a fear that telling the truth of Christianity will have a negative impact on the church’s offering. Ministers, from early in Christian history, had a pretty strong incentive to oversell the joyous message and undersell (or forget all together) Jesus’ invitation to carry the cross if one wished to follow him. With that said, Paul did not present the challenges and discomfort associated with discipleship without something positive. He described how those who were enduring would also share in the inheritance of the saints in the light. I believe Paul was making the claim that self-giving love and kindness will often bring with it some form of personal suffering or challenge, yet it is in the act of sacrificial love that one experiences the inheritance of the saints. It is when we choose to do as Jesus did that we have the best chance of experiencing more deeply the fullness of God’s love made real in Jesus. It might sound a bit counterintuitive, yet this is why faith formation is more than simply sitting around and pondering. It is practicing real discipleship, which includes experiencing the fullness of the Jesus life.
Prayer: Provide me the courage, O Father God, to endure all that comes with living the Jesus-life. May my meager attempts draw me closer to the amazing saints who joyfully modeled the life of faith, and of course, to you as well. Amen.
