Colossians 1:24-25
24 Now I rejoice in my sufferings for you, and I am completing in my flesh what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions for his body, that is, the church. 25 I have become its servant, according to God’s commission that was given to me for you, to make the word of God fully known,
The former persecutor of Christ and His followers is now rejoicing that he is suffering for His fellow Christians. Oh, how the tables can turn when Christ gets ahold of a life!
In Acts 9:4, Jesus speaks to Paul (when he was still called Saul), “He fell to the ground and heard a voice say to him, ‘Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?’” This is the key to understanding the second part of verse 24. How is Paul “completing… what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions for… the church”? In Acts 9:4, we see a connection between the persecution and afflictions of Christ-followers living in this broken world and persecution and afflictions toward Christ Himself. In other words, when members of His body suffer, Jesus (the head of the body) feels it too.
Paul sees himself as a servant of the church, commissioned by God to make the word of God known. This chapter has been building and building and building. Paul is driving us toward a big reveal out of the motivation to make the word of God fully known (more on that tomorrow, don’t miss it). He suffers in his life so that he can serve and build up the church that he used to persecute.
When we have a goal that is greater than the bumps and barriers on the way to that goal, we can weave where we need to weave, we can jump where we need to jump, and we can keep moving forward when we get knocked down. Paul had a goal like that. He knew what his life’s mission was and he lived his life in full pursuit of it.
Do you know your life’s mission? I do. I know yours and I know mine. Not because I’m some prophet. No. The mission of every Christian is clear: make disciples. And by doing so, we’ll be servants of God’s church on mission for the sake of people’s good and God’s glory.
What if you weren’t saved to simply be a Christian and go to heaven? What if you were saved to be a disciple of Jesus on mission? To put it a different way, what if you were saved to be a missionary where you are?
It may cost you something. But the cost, whatever it is, will be worth it.
Today, pray this prayer: God, have your way with me today. Teach me to love like you have loved me. Show me what it means to be a missionary.
Onward, saints.
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