Good day dear friends. May the grace and peace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with you and any need you may be facing; in Christ Jesus I pray, amen.
Here is our text for today: Colossians 1:1 Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother, 2 To the saints and faithful brothers and sisters in Christ in Colossae: Grace to you and peace from God our Father. 3 In our prayers for you we always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, 4 for we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love that you have for all the saints, 5 because of the hope laid up for you in heaven. You have heard of this hope before in the word of the truth, the gospel 6 that has come to you. Just as it is bearing fruit and growing in the whole world, so it has been bearing fruit among yourselves from the day you heard it and truly comprehended the grace of God. 7 This you learned from Epaphras, our beloved fellow servant. He is a faithful minister of Christ on your behalf, 8 and he has made known to us your love in the Spirit. 9 For this reason, since the day we heard it, we have not ceased praying for you and asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of God's will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, 10 so that you may lead lives worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him, as you bear fruit in every good work and as you grow in the knowledge of God. 11 May you be made strong with all the strength that comes from his glorious power, and may you be prepared to endure everything with patience, while joyfully 12 giving thanks to the Father, who has enabled you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the light. 13 He has rescued us from the power of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of his beloved Son, 14 in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.
How public is your love? And by that I don't mean, how often have you or will you embarrass your children with PDAs? And by PDAs I mean Public Displays of Affection. I mean, do people, does God, know you as a person of love? Do you care for others in ways that you demonstrate the love of God alive and active in you? Do you go the extra mile in showing compassion for people? Do you help others rather than hurt them? Is there love in your heart, home, and beyond?
Paul prayed for the people of this church in Colossae. He knew the struggles and so he lifted up prayers to the Lord on their behalf. I pause to reflect how awesome that must have been for those folks who knew that Paul knew Jesus personally, face-to-face, and could lift up prayers to Him on their behalf. And he and others thanked God for the love they had encountered in their walk with Christ Jesus. They were people of caring, kindness, thankfulness, and sharing. Are you?
PRAYER: Loving God, we thank You for loving us and for walking with us. As I pray, I pray for the friends and family that I have in different churches. I ask that they might be known as people and congregations of love. May I too, be a person of love and may that love be made public in way that embarrassed the devil. I pray this in Jesus' precious name, amen.
Have a great and blessed day in the Lord!
Eradio Valverde
