To Encourage You

Colossians 1:24-26 “Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I am filling up what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions for the sake of his body, that is, the church, of which I became a minister according to the stewardship from God that was given to me for you, to make the word of God fully known, the mystery hidden for ages and generations but now revealed to his saints.”

Do you realize how costly it was to the writers of the Scriptures to give us this gift that is “more precious than gold” (Psalm 19:10)? We see references to this throughout the books of the Bible. One such example is in the verses above. Paul, in order to make the Word of God that had been planted in his heart fully known both to the Colossian church and all those who have become a part of the church since these words were written, was willing to suffer great physical pain and deprivation. Paul knew that if he preached the gospel, he would receive tremendous opposition. He knew this because he was once a part of the inner circle that was bringing that opposition. Paul knew that to preach and teach the gospel he would suffer. Paul wrote Colossians from prison. Elsewhere, Paul gives us a list of the things he had endured just to make sure as many people as possible heard the message that had changed his life: “Five times I received at the hands of the Jews the forty lashes less one. Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned. Three times I was shipwrecked; a night and a day I was adrift at sea; on frequent journeys, in danger from rivers, danger from robbers, danger from my own people, danger from Gentiles, danger in the city, danger in the wilderness, danger at sea, danger from false brothers; in toil and hardship, through many a sleepless night, in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure. And, apart from other things, there is the daily pressure on me of my anxiety for all the churches” (2 Corinthians 11:24-28).

Yet in all of this Paul says that he rejoiced. He rejoiced to suffer these things for the sake of his Savior, the One Who Himself had suffered even greater things to bring us hope. And he rejoiced to suffer for the sake of the church, the body of Christ.

So have you thought about how awesome the gospel message is, that one would suffer to such an extent so that you and I could hear it? It’s awesome because of its source: it is the very Word of the Living God. And it’s awesome because of its effect: the ability to bring eternal life to the spiritually dead, hope to the hopeless, joy to the joyless, and peace to those filled with anxiety and fear. It transcends anything else known to man. It is described with such words as “perfect, sure, right, pure, clean, eternal, true, righteous, more precious than gold, and sweeter than honey” in Psalm 19, and its greatness is meditated on for 176 wonderful verses in Psalm 119. Paul gave his life to get this message to us, for he knew its value was far greater than physical life itself.

May God help us all to ponder these truths and somehow realize the sacred trust that has been left to us in the words of the Bible. May the costliness of its message to the Christ Who gave it to us and to his apostles and prophets who wrote it down, dawn on us as we consider its words. And may God give us the boldness to share the truth of God’s Word with as many people as we can, for surely the message is far too valuable to keep to ourselves.