Colossians 1:28-29
Him we proclaim, warning everyone and teaching
everyone with all wisdom, that we may
present everyone mature in Christ. For this I toil, struggling with all
his energy that he powerfully works within me.
In my
daily reading, I came across these verses again. I am not sure when I first
noticed these verses but they have become some of my ministry verses. After
Paul talks about how he struggles for some of the other churches, he says this:
Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, rooted and built up in him and established
in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving. (Col 2:6-7)
Today, I read an article talking about 4 teachings of Jesus
that Christians ignore (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/brandan-robertson/4-teachings-of-jesus-that_b_6343320.html).
It sounded interesting and it was somewhat true. The author and I do not see
eye to eye on all of the four points but he does make some interesting
comments. For example, he states that people are not saved by believing the
right things but by doing the will of God. While I would point to John 3:16, he
points to Matthew 7:21: “Not everyone who
says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who
does the will of my Father who is in heaven. He alludes to the two greatest
commandments: Love God and Love your neighbor. Sometimes, we simplify things
too much and forget that God is to be our LORD or master and not just someone
we believe in (James 2:14-26 and Col 2:6-7).
After reading this article, I decided to read some of the
comments. I know that this is dangerous but I did it anyway (http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/03/opinion/sunday/this-story-stinks.html).
There is an interesting back and forth that happens particularly with religious
articles on Huffington Post but it occurs many other places as well. You get
the “defenders of the faith” (I have been known to do this from time to time).
These people see it as their duty to correct the misinterpretations of either
the Bible or the Christian faith. Then you get the other side where they feel
that anything to do with God is a fairy tale or a lie and cannot be believed
let alone base your life upon it. Within each side, there is a wide spectrum of
views/arguments as well. Some Christians take the approach that “God says it, I
believe it, that settles it!” The comments they make do not help the
conversation and more times than not, they cause splintered threads in the comments
when others take exception to those “baseless” comments. You get similar ones
from the other side like, “Everything in the Bible can be disproven.” First of
all, this can never be proven (in fact, it is pretty easy to be disproven) and
secondly, this does not help the conversation. To address all of these is like
chasing rabbits all over the place. It is exhausting and not very helpful.
On the other hand, there are some on both sides who are
ready to engage in a discussion about these topics in a rational, logical, and
constructive manner: Christians who know that many do not hold Scripture in as
high regard as we do and skeptics who are willing to walk through their
objections with the Christian faith. These are the people with whom I want to
interact. These are the people that make me question the “what” and the “why”
of my beliefs. I am not the best at making logical arguments and having a good
back and forth with these people, help me understand better and also how better
to communicate what I believe.
Lately, I have been reminded in various ways that there are
many people who do not understand the claims of Christ. We as the church need
to be “struggling with all
his energy that he powerfully works within me” to be “warning
everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom” the wonderful truths of
God. Like I told the Awana kids on Wednesday, the purpose for learning the
verses is 1) so we can learn about God, 2) so we can act more like Him and 2)
so we can tell others about Him. Sometimes, I get caught in 1 or 2 but God
calls us to do all three. How are you living out all three?
