Colossians 1:9-14 (MSG)
Be assured that from the first day we heard of you, we haven’t stopped praying for you, asking God to give you wise minds and spirits attuned to his will, and so acquire a thorough understanding of the ways in which God works. We pray that you’ll live well for the Master, making him proud of you as you work hard in his orchard. As you learn more and more how God works, you will learn how to do your work. We pray that you’ll have the strength to stick it out over the long haul—not the grim strength of gritting your teeth but the glory-strength God gives. It is strength that endures the unendurable and spills over into joy, thanking the Father who makes us strong enough to take part in everything bright and beautiful that he has for us.
God rescued us from dead-end alleys and dark dungeons. He’s set us up in the kingdom of the Son he loves so much, the Son who got us out of the pit we were in, got rid of the sins we were doomed to keep repeating.
Devotion
Reading this passage, I was reminded of the beautiful blessing that is the community God provides us. Personally, my relationships with my family and friends are what I value most in my life. This passage got me thinking – how blessed we are to have people in our lives who “haven’t stopped praying” for us and who we can continuously pray for!
I chose the Messenger translation of this passage because of the unique way that it describes going through the ups and downs of life with God by your side. He makes us new through strengthening us in our hardships, providing us endurance that “spills into joy,” giving us understanding and opportunities to “take part in everything bright and beautiful,” and washing away our sins that continually separate us from God. Because Paul wrote this section as a prayer unto others, I believe that this passage is demonstrating that it is only with community that all of this can occur and we can be transformed.
In being renewed by God’s spirit, we can learn how to have more meaningful relationships that restore both ourselves and the important people in our lives. We can stick by them, both in moments of joy and of hardship. However, it also goes the other way, where we must allow others in on our own struggles and recognize that we can’t do this hard work of life on our own. Let’s practice mutual reliance, submission, and love in our relationships, so that we can be “in it for the long haul”!
Prayer
Lord, thank you for this day that you have given me, and for the gift of community. Help me to be strengthened and made new by your spirit through the relationships you have put in my life. Allow me to be a beacon of strength, grace, joy, and love for them, and give me the humility to allow them to be the same for me. In your holy name I pray, Amen.
Emma Staeger