Paul finishes up his comments about relationships with masters being kind and just to their servants. Again, though we don't have servants anymore, we can still apply the principles to those who are under our leadership whether at church, home, or work. Ultimately the Lord is our Master and our sole desire should be to please Him. If we do not treat our brothers and sisters with respect and love and forgiveness then we are like the servant in Matt 18:23-35.
"For this reason the kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who wished to settle accounts with his slaves. "When he had begun to settle {them,} one who owed him ten thousand talents was brought to him. "But since he did not have {the means} to repay, his lord commanded him to be sold, along with his wife and children and all that he had, and repayment to be made. "So the slave fell {to the ground} and prostrated himself before him, saying, 'Have patience with me and I will repay you everything.' "And the lord of that slave felt compassion and released him and forgave him the debt. "But that slave went out and found one of his fellow slaves who owed him a hundred denarii; and he seized him and {began} to choke {him,} saying, 'Pay back what you owe.' "So his fellow slave fell {to the ground} and {began} to plead with him, saying, 'Have patience with me and I will repay you.' "But he was unwilling and went and threw him in prison until he should pay back what was owed. "So when his fellow slaves saw what had happened, they were deeply grieved and came and reported to their lord all that had happened. "Then summoning him, his lord *said to him, 'You wicked slave, I forgave you all that debt because you pleaded with me. 'Should you not also have had mercy on your fellow slave, in the same way that I had mercy on you?' "And his lord, moved with anger, handed him over to the torturers until he should repay all that was owed him. "My heavenly Father will also do the same to you, if each of you does not forgive his brother from your heart."
In verse 2, Paul calls us to continue in prayer and be watchful with thanksgiving. Prayer is our method of communication to the Lord. We need to make sure that the Lord is our priority. He should be the first one we run to in a crisis or thank in times of joy. We can demonstrate His priority in our lives by making every effort to spend time with Him each day. We can always make time for the things we want to do, but so often we neglect spending time with our Maker! Make the Lord your priority this week!
In verse 3-5 Paul asks for prayer to share the gospel with boldness and wisdom. I think we should all be praying that for each other. We all have unbelievers in our lives that need Jesus! Pray for opportunities and boldness to effectively share the gospel. One thing that we need to remember is that we never know when the last time we will see someone might be. What if it is today? Did they know the gospel? We need to share the gospel with urgency because we don't know what our life will be like tomorrow! This is something the Lord has been impressing upon my soul lately. I have several unbelieving friends at school, and I don't think I've had the urgency or the boldness that I should. Pray for me to have that boldness and for the Lord to soften their hearts cause some of them are quite hard! Here's a challenge from a Mercy Me song. "Live like there's no tomorrow. Love extravagantly." from "Goodbye Ordinary" That is my prayer for each of us.
Verse 6 Paul speaks of having our speech seasoned with grace so that we will properly answer everyone we talk to. I think this can be applied to all our speech. Whether we are speaking to a believer or an unbeliever, we want to make sure that our speech is edifying and not tearing down. I fall short in this area all the time. I like to tease and joke, but sometimes it's too much. "Let no unwholesome word proceed from your mouth, but only such {a word} as is good for edification according to the need {of the moment,} so that it will give grace to those who hear." Eph 4:29
The rest of the chapter is Paul's greetings to specific people and instructions for the letter. Here's a little info on some of the people mentioned.
Tychicus was an Asian. He was probably from Ephesus and probably went with Paul as a representative of his church to Jerusalem when they sent their collection. He is also mentioned in Eph 6:21.
Aristarchus was a fellow traveler with Paul and possibly taking turns with Epaphras for voluntary imprisonment with Paul. He is also mentioned in Acts 19:29, 20:4, 27:2, and Philemon 23, 24.
Epaphras was another friend of Paul's. He founded several churches including the church at Colossae. It was his visit that caused Paul to write this letter. He is also mentioned in Col 1:7 and Philemon 23.
Onesimus was a runaway servant that ended up in Rome and somehow found Paul. Paul soon taught him about the Lord and he became a believer. Now, Paul was sending him back to his owner, Philemon. Paul's instructions to Philemon are found in the tiny book of Philemon.
I want to end with a quote I found on my friend's blog. I thought it was a good reminder for us.
God never places us in any position in which we can not grow. We may fancy that He does. We may fear we are so impeded by fretting, petty cares that we are gaining nothing; but when we are not sending any branches upward, we may be sending roots downward. Perhaps in the time of our humiliation, when everything seems a failure, we are making the best kind of progress.
~Elizabeth Prentiss~
Elizabeth Prentiss is the one who wrote the book I gave you for Christmas, Stepping Heavenward.)
1 comment:
did I ever tell you when I finished that book? I LOVED it!! It was really good, and I felt like I learned a lot. Especially about waiting for God's perfect man he has for me. Sometimes I get carried away, and forget about God's perfect plan, but then something happens and God gets me right back on track.
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