Living in the Thoughts of God

DEVOTION

THE LETTER TO THE COLOSSIANS

LIVING IN THE THOUGHTS OF GOD

Col 4:1-6

4:1 Masters, provide your slaves with what is right and fair, because you know that you also have a Master in heaven.

2 Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful. 3 And pray for us, too, that God may open a door for our message, so that we may proclaim the mystery of Christ, for which I am in chains. 4 Pray that I may proclaim it clearly, as I should. 5 Be wise in the way you act toward outsiders; make the most of every opportunity. 6 Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone.

NIV

These first words of the chapter should actually have belonged to the previous chapter, as Paul did not write in chapters. He did not divide his thoughts up into sections. These divisions are from some later men for whatever purpose we cannot be sure. Nevertheless, in the working world, as we who might be the employee have seen how we are to do our work as unto the Lord, we also see that those who would be the employer, have a responsibility to do right by the people who work for them. Being a boss or employer carries a great deal of responsibility in and of itself. The affairs or welfare of those who are employed depend on how the business is managed. In most successful businesses of today, the management understands their employees are their greatest asset. If the employer treats the employee rightly, the employee will treat the customer rightly. However, as a Christian employer, it is more than that concept or truth, it is a command of God to be right and fair with those whom they employ. Paul goes on to conclude his letter by making some final remarks. First, he tells them and us to devote ourselves to prayer, being watchful, and again being thankful. This is not those specific times of prayer, such as praying for the pastor before he preaches, or the pastoral prayer during service, or even our own personal goodnight prayer, as many children are taught to do. It always concerned me, how that little prayer of children was so self or I centered. “Now I lay, me down to sleep, I pray my soul to keep, if I should die before I wake, I pray my soul to take” In such a short little prayer I, me, and my, is used eight times. No, it appears the intent of Paul is to live in prayer. What we need to remember is prayer is not intended to be a laundry list we come to God and rattle off then leave and go about our day. Prayer is better described as having a conversation with God. This conversation can go on all day long throughout any activity of our day. What is most important in this conversation is not so much what we say, but what God says. Devote ourselves to be in constant communication with God. We also notice that Paul is asking them to pray for him. This does take the central thought of prayer from totally being self-orientated. We should always be aware of the needs of others and pray for them right at the moment their need is expressed. From a personal standpoint, it is unlikely I will remember their need some hours later, after being distracted by so many other things in life. So it would behoove us to pray right then and there for the needs someone expresses to us, rather than say, “I will pray for you” and leave them going on in the distress of their need. Devotion to prayer is a lifestyle of always being in communication with God and hearing the voice of the Spirit leading us and giving us the right words when we need them for the needs of others and for our own. If we are left to our own thoughts all day long, we could be in serious trouble. We need to live in and with the thoughts of God. Living in the thoughts of God is being devoted to prayer.