Moved Away

Colossians 1-Part 5
I am glad when I suffer for you in my body, for I am participating in the sufferings of Christ that continue for his body, the church.    Colosssian 1:24   NLT


LET IT GLOW

Did I read that right-Paul was glad that he suffered? Now that takes a mature Christian to say such a thing. Of course Paul was one.

The King James Version uses the word sufferings, which means externally, a suffering, misfortune, calamity, evil, affliction, according to Thayer's Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament.

No one has ever told me that their affliction, suffering was for my good. Now that would be love to the nth degree. This was what Paul was telling the Colossians. He was in chains and in prison for their benefit, on their behalf, for their advantage. He was a servant and minister of the Lord Jesus Christ. Paul's ministry cost him dearly, but so did our Savior's.

Isaiah 53:3 says, "He is despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief."

In the devotional book by the Blackabys, Experiencing God Day-By-Day, they say:

If Christ is your model for ministry, you cannot avoid going to the cross for the sake of others. Salvation comes with a great price, and if we are going to "take up our cross" and follow Jesus, then we must be prepared to go with Him to the place of suffering if that's what it takes to bring salvation to those around us.

Am we experiencing hardships because of our love for our Savior? Do we wonder if the price we pay is  too great? How can we when we look at the price God paid in order to provide our salvation? Guilty.

Now I see-Paul was willing to go through whatever so others would come to know Christ and experience Him. Is less acceptable by me?


LET IT GROW

How many times have I moved? I have counted 19 times in my 38 years of marriage, if I didn't forget any.
It's hard to move away from family, friends, churches. You leave people that you love and care about for the furtherance of the gospel. Paul is talking about a different moving. He's talking about not moving away from the hope these people have in the gospel.

Verse 23 says, "If ye continue in the faith grounded and settled, and be not moved away from the hope of the gospel, which ye have heard, and which was preached to every creature which is under heaven; whereof I Paul am made a minister."

What is Paul telling the Colossians and us?
First, continue in faith, grounded and settled.
    Grounded means to make stable, establish of the soul.
    Settled means firm, immovable, steadfast (those who are fixed in purpose).

Second, be not moved away from the hope of the gospel.
    Moved means to move from a place, to move away from the hope which one holds, on which one rests.
[Resource: Thayer's Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament]

What hope does the gospel give us? It gives the hope of righteousness (Gal.5:5); the hope of His calling
(Eph. 1:18); the hope of eternal life (Titus 3:7); the living hope (1 Peter 1:3-4); and the hope that we have
(Hebrews 6:19). Liberty Bible Commentary

When I taught youth in Bible study classes, I often would ask them, "What would it take for you to loose your faith in Jesus? To get you to quit serving Jesus?"  That is what the devil tries to get the Christians to do, isn't it?


LET GO

Suffer whatever the Lord has planned for me to suffer for His glory and my good.

Be grounded and settled in my faith.

Keep hoping.
*Please pray for my family. My Aunt Dena passed away yesterday. She and Uncle Bud have 4 children and many grandchildren. It was a long illness, but her pain is gone and she's set free now to a better life with Jesus. It's been 13 years since death came to my family, with Mom in 1997. Thanks, friends. Linda