Faith and Love

DEVOTION

THE LETTER TO THE COLOSSIANS

FAITH AND LOVE

Col 1:3-6

3 We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, 4 because we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love you have for all the saints— 5 the faith and love that spring from the hope that is stored up for you in heaven and that you have already heard about in the word of truth, the gospel 6 that has come to you.

NIV

There is a couple of thoughts about this idea of praying for others. First, Paul says that he always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when he prays for them. He is not saying that he always prays for them, but when he does, he always thanks God, and we would have to believe, he is thanking God for their faith in Christ Jesus. If we take this as a lead, some of our prayer time should include being thankful for those we have shared the gospel with have heard of their faith and how they have a love for all the saints. This might be seen as praying for all other believers, but it would seem this has more to do with including the time to be thankful for those who we hear about having faith and love who we once shared the message of the word of truth, the gospel that came to them. Yet, on the other hand, as Paul continues in this letter, he also says that he has not stopped praying for them. However, that still does not mean he prays for them all the time, that he is always in prayer and his prayer is always about them. The fact is he does not forget them. The idea or the lesson we might be able to take away from this is that our prayers should not always be about ourselves, our wants, our desires, seeking his direction, healing, provision, or whatever that has to do with us. We suppose that if we were praying for others, it would enhance our relationships with them bringing us closer together, being more united, especially if we were thanking God for their faith. However, we also could see this truth in an introspective way, which is us being like the Colossians. We would be the ones someone is praying about, because of our faith in Jesus, and of our love we have for all the saints, or all the other believers. We would have to agree our faith springs from the hope that is stored up for us in heaven. But we are also supposed to have a love which springs from that hope as well. Having faith and love because we have heard the word of truth, would certainly, or should certainly affect our relationships with all other believers. We would not have any ill-feelings at all. How can love include anything other than love? That would mean no hurt feelings, no anger, no resentment, no envy, no jealousy, no bitterness, or refusal to forgive, or being involved in gossip, or being critical or judgmental, or even prideful, thinking more highly of ourselves then we should, just to name a few attitudes and/or behaviors that would not be included in the definition of love. What all this which Paul gives us the example of here bowls down to is that the world does not revolve around us, we are not the center of everything. We are a part of the body of Christ, simply doing what all the other parts are supposed to do, serving the rest of the parts, with Jesus being the head. Each member of our physical body serves all the other members in one way or another, all fitting together as one united body, not fighting each other, but working united as one body. This is how the church is supposed to be and as one member, we must be about our part, serving the rest, united, not fighting each other. This is living in faith and love.