His Energy

DEVOTION

THE LETTER TO THE COLOSSIANS

HIS ENERGY

Col 1:28-29

28 We proclaim him, admonishing and teaching everyone with all wisdom, so that we may present everyone perfect in Christ. 29 To this end I labor, struggling with all his energy, which so powerfully works in me.

NIV

There is something interesting about this word everyone. In the Greek it is made up of two words, every, or all of the whole and man, a human being. There is no mention as to the particular persuasion of the whole of humankind, in order words, Paul is not indicating that he is only speaking or trying to speak to believers in Christ. He is proclaiming Christ, admonishing and teaching every person he comes in contact with, all people, no matter what they currently believe or don’t believe, with all wisdom, so that he may present everyone perfect or complete in Christ. This certainly appears that Paul did not just hang around other believers, but was out and about proclaiming Jesus among non-believers for the purpose of bringing them to Christ and then teaching them with all wisdom how they might live a life worthy of the Lord. We might take his lead on this in the sense of getting out of our comfort zone, which would be just hanging out with other believers, and taking Jesus to those who are in need of salvation. We need to be out and about proclaiming, admonishing and teaching everyone. Of course, we need to do that with all wisdom, which means we cannot just be a blabber-mouth, but we need to sense the right time and with the right words which meet someone’s needs in a real way so they will be sensitive to the call of the Spirit in their lives. Yet, there have been men, like Billy Graham who simply proclaimed Jesus. However, before he would stand in some auditorium or stadium, hundreds of workers would work that city, or area for months before the event. Billboards, radio and television and newspaper ads flooded the city, proclaiming before he proclaimed, and inviting people to hear him speak. This would have been with all wisdom. The idea is still the same. We should be bringing people to Jesus, or rather bringing Jesus to the people. The other interesting truth in Paul’s statement is that he labors, and that word struggling would better mean, strive or attempt to accomplish something, such as admonishing and teaching everyone with all wisdom or bringing Jesus to all the people. But he does not try to do that in his own strength, or ability or training, or because he attended enough “how-to” classes. Paul makes it clear he is striving to this in the energy of Christ, which works so powerfully in him. This is what we need, the energy of Christ working in us. When we take a look at Jesus, he was always about his Father’s business. He was always teaching, always healing, always feeding, and always caring about the need of people for salvation. Did Jesus rest? We do not know, as all we have a record of is his always being about doing something to bring people to salvation and teaching them the truth. Of course, Jesus was God and filled with endless energy as he had created everything that was created. We, on the other hand, require some rest, sleep, regeneration of the body and mind. We also need to spend time being employed to gain income to live. Jesus had supporters who covered his expenses, we need to cover our own. So we may not be able to be constantly about admonishing and teaching everyone with all wisdom, but we can live in a manner which reflects Jesus to the world at all times, no matter where we are, at work, at play, shopping, or even at church. We can always be about bringing Jesus to the people, as the power of the Spirit is at work in our lives and the energy of Jesus is working in us.