Verse of the Day - Colossians 1:9-10

We ask God to give you complete knowledge of his will and to give you spiritual wisdom and understanding. Then the way you live will always honor and please the Lord, and your lives will produce every kind of good fruit. All the while, you will grow as you learn to know God better and better.
~ Colossians 1:9-10 (NLT)

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This reads like a great snapshot of the Christian life, to me! A summary of what it means to be filled with the Spirit and led by the Lord -- to live right, bear spiritual fruit, and know God deeply. Seems pretty simple, doesn't it?

If it's so simple, why do we make it so hard? Well, Paul's prayer for the Colossians seems key. He prayed that God would give them complete knowledge of His will and give them wisdom and understanding. Ah. The God factor...

We make it hard when we attempt to live the Christian life without Christ, when we attempt to live godly without God, when we attempt to be spiritual without the Spirit!

If you are a believer in Jesus Christ, He lives within you -- that's a fact. But the extent to which you allow Him control is another matter. The amount of time you spend with Him in prayer and in His word is another matter. It's called discipleship and growth, and believe me, it doesn't happen through osmosis. It takes submission and time. It takes love and desire. It takes pounding out the dents of the beat up VW of your life, believing God when He says that there's a really cool car in there under all the dents and rust and ripped upholstery, and when you and He get it restored, you're gonna take the ride of your lives!

So, the Christian life seems hard either way. Either you struggle in your own power to be something you can't on your own, or you get moulded and shaped (sometimes painfully) as God does the work in you to be His disciple. If you choose the Christian life, you're in for some hard work. But you're also in for the greatest joy that can be known in this life -- knowing God, knowing and doing His will, and bearing fruit that will never perish. That is the greatest stuff on earth!

So, how's your VW coming along?

Love,
Joelene