Paul’s letter to the Colossians included reassurance that he was praying for them:
…we have not stopped praying for you
and asking God to fill you with the knowledge of his will
through all spiritual wisdom and understanding.
Colossians 1:9
The ensuing verses (please read verses 10-12) give details of Paul’s specific prayers on behalf of the Colossian believers. His list is peppered with athletic terms:
- Strength
- Endurance
- Qualify
These words spur thoughts of an Olympic hopeful—persevering, working hard, training, sacrificing—all for the goal of representing his or her country on that big day.
As followers of Christ, we also persevere, hone our strength, practice patience and endurance … but we are not simply hoping to qualify. Because of Jesus, we know we are already qualified. What a blessing!
Knowing our end, how does it change our journey? Does it make us lazy and complacent? Grateful and joyful?
Paul challenges us to live a life worthy of our qualification. We don’t work to please God to EARN our place in heaven; we do it in GRATITUDE for our qualification. It is our response to the inheritance we have in Him.
He has given us the power to endure. It comes from the Holy Spirit and cannot be manufactured by us. We are not “good-works machines,” cranking out works widgets to justify ourselves. We are children of God, adopted by Him and grafted into His family for eternity.
Our qualification/adoption means we can live loved—free from a duty to perform, and from striving to earn what Jesus gave freely. Our have-to transforms into a want-to and eventually a joyful, thankful delight-to, as God’s love becomes the motivation for what and how we live our lives.
We desire and delight to “please Him in every way.” For a woman of God, that is lived out by patiently and faithfully listening, loving, preparing, disciplining, and encouraging the precious ones God has placed in our sphere of influence.
Even when—especially when—they are not grateful.
Even when—especially when—we see no progress.
Even when—especially when—we get no performance review, raise or bonus rewarding our effort.
We patiently, faithfully serve today for a result we may not see tomorrow or next week. In fact, it may be 15, 20, or 30 years (or perhaps not even this side of heaven) when the fruit of our labor appears. We simply commit to doing our part, and trust God will do His.
As we live this life, remaining faithful to give and serve and stay the course He has laid out for us, the primary result is: God is glorified. Paul says we “please him in every way.” Does pleasing God make our daily to-do list? Does it ever occur to us—as we are working, studying, scrubbing, baking, caring, planning, listening, forgiving, releasing—that God sees, God knows, and God is pleased?
Not only does our faithfulness bring glory to God, it brings us transformation.
Just as a faithful athlete is rewarded with stronger muscles, faster speed, greater endurance, so the child of God grows and advances spiritually. As we yield to the moving and leading of His Spirit abiding in us, we find ourselves “bearing fruit in every good work” and “growing in knowledge of God” (verse 10). This growth, of course, comes from the Holy Spirit. We cannot produce it on our own. We cooperate with Him, surrender and yield to His leading, and the resulting blessings are evidence of a transformed life (verses 11-12):
- Strengthened with all power
- Great endurance
- Patience
- Joyful thanks
An athlete might consult the time clock to assess his progress. There is no stopwatch for our spiritual assessment, but we can ask ourselves:
- How have I yielded my way to His way today?
- Can I think of a specific situation where I said, “Yes, Sir!” to the Holy Spirit’s prompting?
- Am I more naturally patient than when I began this journey?
- Does joyful thanks to God abound in my home and in my heart?
The Holy Spirit will release the power God has already instilled in me, as I choose to cooperate with Him. My choice is to do it Laura’s hard-work way (often characterized by frustration and impatience) or His easy way, prompted and empowered by the Spirit and characterized by endurance and patience.
Patience, of course, is one of the nine traits of the Spirit’s work in us, the fruit growing from the moment of salvation as we are progressively sanctified. A pause in life’s journey reveals, amazingly, that I truly am more patient that when I launched this journey in Him. I’m not who I used to be. (And, praise God, I’m not yet who I’m gonna be!) Yielding to Him is bringing transformation … a realization that prompts joyful praise to the One who makes it all possible.
Patience is truly one of the nine indicators of a transformed life.
This week’s Bible study teaching lecture featured Angela Kincade, Ministry Assistant at Cross Church. We invite you to listen and prayerfully consider Angela’s challenge to “widen our hearts” (II Corinthians 6:11-13). And please don’t miss her powerful questions for self examination at the end of the video!
There’s just over a week remaining in our October study of the Fruit of the Spirit … but we will be continuing in November! Subscribe to our YouTube channel and the Cross My Heart Ministry email newsletter to be notified when we release our free bookmark and S.O.A.P. study pages for Write the WORD: Fruit of the Spirit, Part II.
