THE KEY TO A GODLY LIFE
“For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you. We continually ask God to fill you with the knowledge of His will through all the wisdom and understanding that the Spirit gives, so that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and please Him in every way; bearing fruit in every good work and growing in the knowledge of God, being strengthened with all power according to His glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, and giving joyful thanks to the Father who qualified you to share in the inheritance of His holy people in the kingdom of light.” Colossians 1:9-12.
What a prayer! In order to understand what Paul was asking for, we need to take his prayer apart and examine it piece by piece. Once we have done that, we will see that he made only one request which he qualified with outcomes and explanations.
What was his request? That God would give the Colossian believers wisdom and understanding through the Holy Spirit to know His will. Knowledge of God’s will would, of course, imply that they would also do His will. But it is much more than that. His will does not only imply doing but being. Understanding the will of God brings us into the freedom of experiencing His fatherly love and having the confidence to approach Him as His dearly loved children instead of living in the fear of punishment like slaves.
In Romans 12:1, 2, Paul gives us the key to knowing and understanding the will of God. Present your bodies to Him as a living sacrifice – in other words, give Him charge of your life – and fill your mind with the truth so that your life will be transformed – two simple instructions, but life changing if we carry them out. God is delighted when this process begins to happen because we are on track for the end result – sons and daughters who resemble Jesus.
When we understand what God has done for us and what He wants for us and from us, there will be changes in us that will indicate what is happening inside. Paul highlights three important results of active participation in what God has both said about us and is doing in us.
- We will bear fruit in every good work. What are the good works that Paul often talked about?
With his Hebrew upbringing and knowledge of the Torah – God’s instructions on how to live the best life recorded in the Books of Moses – Paul would have understood that God’s people have a duty to take care of four groups of people: their spiritual authority first – to whom they gave the firstfuits of their crops and animals; the temple and those who worked there; their family’s future, and the widow, the orphan, the poor and the alien who lived among them. They were to give prescribed percentages of their increase to each group which was called tsidaqah or acts of righteousness.
Some argue that we are no longer bound by Old Testament laws. True, if we think that we can buy our way to God through them, but not true if we think that the God of the Old Testament and the God of the New Testament are two different Gods. The principles of God’s teaching in the Torah have never changed. What God instructed in the Torah represents His wisdom because He knows what brings the most peace to our hearts – doing the right thing in every circumstance.
- We will grow in the knowledge of God. How important is that? It’s more that knowing about God. It’s about knowing His heart – what brings Him joy when we act like Him. He wants us to be one with Him in who we are and what we do. The more we understand the love, mercy and generosity of God towards all people, the more we will really know Him. When we are growing in knowing Him, we will grow in trusting Him even when we cannot see the way ahead.
- We will be joyfully thankful to Him about everything because He has qualified us to be a part of His kingdom which is coming on earth and is already here in part. No more darkness – sin, evil, wickedness, and everything that goes with it. We will see life from His perspective and recognise that every circumstance, good or bad, is moving us towards maturity. That in itself is enough to fill our hearts with gratitude and joy.
What a prayer! Not a grocery list of needs and wants, but a declaration of intent; a desire that these new believers would fully participate in what God has done and what He is yet to do to complete what He began at creation.
SCRIPTURE TAKEN FROM THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.