Colossians 1:11-12 - Glorifying God, Relying on God

Colossians 1:11-12  “...being strengthened with all power according to His glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, and joyfully giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of light.”

A life lived to the glory of God, fully to the glory of God is a hard life. It is not easy, it is not “mellow” or “chilled out”  It is rough and trying.  Living the life of an heir of God's, one of His adopted children in this world is not easy. Not only do we have to contend with people who think our choices and decisions are stupid and mistaken, we have to deal with people who actively try to impede us in our walk with God. We also have to contend with things in the spiritual realm, things where prayer is our only defense and only offense.  We must remember that “our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.” (Ephesians 6:12)

Our walking in Christ's footsteps does not make us any less human, however. It means that as we go forward in our convictions and desires to serve God to the best of our abilities, we are going to fall down and screw up.  It is through the endurance that God blesses us with that we are able to move forward. Trying to live such a life on our own terms and in our own strength is impossible. We cannot do it and those who try, well, we have seen the humiliating results in the church scandals that are gleefully shown on the front page of every news outlet possible. We must have endurance and patience, but not only our own endurance and patience, because ours wears out quickly. We need the Lord's blessing of His endurance and patience which never wears out.

When problems come, not only do we need to endure them, we need to give thanks and be joyful about them! “Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance.” (James 1:2)  “Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer.” (Romans 12:12)  Being joyful in such situations is not a very human thing to do, and it most certainly is not a very easy thing at all! Again, we need God's might and God's strength to accomplish this. Our joy is His Joy in the end.  We have every encouragement that it is possible to accomplish this. We have every assurance that it is possible! “Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.” (Hebrews 12:2)

In the end, we must totally rely on God just to live the life that He wants us to live.  There really is no reason then, that we should stress out about things that happen in our life. As long as we know that we can't go it alone, that He is right there with us, everything will be fine. As long as we remember that we need prayer and we need to pray for others, we will manage somehow. These big gaping chasms that appear before us in our walk will in hindsight always turn out to be small cracks in the pavement.

This week then, lets change our perspective. Its God's power and strength that allows us to continue onwards, It's all God and nothing of us. He is willing to carry us when we can't go one more step. He is there to pick us up when we fall down. Its His journey with us more than it is our journey with Him. Lets remember this.

We bear the strains of earthly care,
But bear it not alone;
Beside us walks our Brother Christ,
And makes our task His own.
                              Ozora S. Davis, 1909.