being ready?
Paul was in jail, probably because of his activities as a Christian travelling around the Mediterranean world tending to the new Christian groups that he had founded. What exactly does Paul want to knock on that door? Is it release from prison? You would think so, but he doesn’t say that. Rather, his concern is to get that opportunity—that break—that will allow him to keep on doing what got him in jail in the first place! He wants to tell people—and tell them as clearly as possible—about the total sufficiency of Christ in providing all that they need.
The mystery of Christ is an amazing gift that you can take into your college experience. One way to look at it is in terms of the powerful promise that Christ can finally explain all the mysteries that there are. Another way to look at it is to experience Christ’s immense reconciling power personally in your own life and relationships. Remember, the “mystery” here is the total sufficiency of Christ alone.
In the face of what you learn in college you can wind up feeling rather insignificant; yet in Christ you are given significance, importance and uniqueness. Perhaps you are not the audacious bring-everyone-to-perfection go-getter that Paul was. But you have many wonderful opportunities to explore how “the mystery of Christ” meets you in your studies and experiences in college.
Prayer: Let me hear the prayers of others if they are prayers that I can answer. Amen.
29 – Carpe Diem
Colossians 4:5–6 — (5) Conduct yourselves wisely toward outsiders, making the most of the time. (6) Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought to answer everyone.
We desire efficiency. Efficiency is the maximizing of some input while other inputs are allowed to (relatively speaking) diminish. And here you are, a student, involved in one of the most inefficient enterprises one could imagine: education. Your course of study and your individual classes involve you in a lot of effort that seems unnecessary. Art survey courses are taught to future accountants, algebra to future nutritionists, physics to future English teachers. Students often wonder why they need a literature class when they are destined for a business career or a first aid class when their interests are in computer science. It all seems so inefficient. We waste the sophisticated knowledge of the art historian trying to get an accountant to grasp the difference between Manet and Monet; the art specialist spends forty-five hours a semester with those who are not artists. The student and teacher are “outsiders” to one another. You are called to efficiency—that is, to “making the most of the time.” Okay, you say, you’re all for efficiency.
Then Paul unpacks it for you. You are to be helpful to . . . “outsiders,” those beyond your comfort zone. And you are to “conduct yourself wisely toward” them and “let your speech always be gracious.” That is beginning to sound not only inefficient and time-consuming, but downright demanding with all of those qualifications. But after all, isn’t one purpose of college to bring a whole lot of “outsiders” together, and communicating, and learning from each other? And in the end, isn’t the family of Christians a bit like that also?
A really good college experience will cause interruption after interruption in your otherwise-settled life. Jesus was constantly interrupted by “outsiders.” Indeed, his “thing” was precisely to be available to “outsiders.” To the extent that you live as a Christian, you live for others. Working and studying at the boundaries where Christians live, you have great opportunities to interact with “outsiders” and to use your time well. Time is God’s gift. What are you hoarding it for? Remember—sometimes you feel like an “outsider.” Jesus was definitely an “outsider.” He came to embrace the “outsiders.” Is there an “outsider” you need to embrace today?
Prayer: Please let me use the time well and say and do the right thing, remembering I was once an outsider. Amen.
30 – With a Little Help from My Friends
Colossians 4:7–15 — (7) Tychicus will tell you all the news about me; he is a beloved brother, a faithful minister, and a fellow servant in the Lord. (8) I have sent him to you for this very purpose, so that you may know how we are and that he may encourage your hearts; (9) he is coming with Onesimus, the faithful and beloved brother, who is one of you. They will tell you about everything here. (10) Aristarchus my fellow prisoner greets you, as does Mark the cousin of Barnabas, concerning whom you have received instructions—if he comes to you, welcome him. (11) And Jesus who is called Justus greets you. These are the only ones of the circumcision among my co-workers for the kingdom of God, and they have been a comfort to me. (12) Epaphras, who is one of you, a servant of Christ Jesus, greets you. He is always wrestling in his prayers on your behalf, so that you may stand mature and fully assured in everything that God wills. (13) For I testify for him that he has worked hard for you and for those in Laodicea and in Hierapolis. (14) Luke, the beloved physician, and Demas greet you. (15) Give my greetings to the brothers and sisters in Laodicea, and to Nympha and the church in her house.
One of the great things about the college experience is meeting new people. Some can be extraordinarily weird—subjects of stories you will tell in years to come. Some can challenge with their ideas and lifestyles. Others become dear and lifelong friends.
Paul mentioned ten persons by name and each was recognized for their special gifts or character. The persons mentioned were a motley group, representing the full gamut of social, religious, ethnic, and gender possibilities: Jews and gentiles; free and prisoners; locals and foreigners; male and female; and (probably) educated and uneducated. The mention of all these persons shows the variety found in the early church. Paul expected them all to know the will of God, come to an orderly and firm faith (2:5), understand the grace of God (1:6), be filled with knowledge, wisdom, and understanding (1:9), embrace Christ as the epistemological center of the cosmos (1:17), set their minds on things above (3:2), put on a new nature (3:10) and in all things love and be thankful.
The community, the body of Christ, within which you live and love is characterized by a rich variety of individuals, connected in Christ. That’s how it started and that’s how it is now.
Prayer: Thanks to God for giving us the solid connections to others in Christ. Amen.
31 – . . . Ends with a Bang, Not a Whimper
Colossians 4:16–18 — (16) And when this letter has been read among you, have it read also in the church of the Laodiceans; and see that you read also the letter from Laodicea. (17) And say to Archippus, “See that you complete the task that you have received in the Lord.” (18) I, Paul, write this greeting with my own hand. Remember my chains. Grace be with you.
Putting your education into practice; that is “where the rubber meets the road.” In olden times, education or training for a vocation was often conducted in an apprenticeship. Then schooling went indoors, into the classroom and library. In the last few decades it has come out again and moved, in part, from College Hill to Main Street in the form of work-study, practica, and field experiences.
Paul ends this letter with a bang! Instead of winding down the letter with a “sincerely yours,” he speak harshly to someone named Archippus: “Do your assigned job!” Normally that might not be problematic, especially if “the task that you have received in the Lord” was either an easy one (visit the sick, raise a collection) or one known only to Paul and Archippus. However, it is possible that this task was both difficult and controversial.
In trying to answer the question, “What task?,” one scholar offers an intriguing possibility. It rests on the probability that there is a close connection between this letter and the briefest of all Paul’s letters, Philemon. [Take a minute to read it. The gist of it is that Paul wants Philemon, another of Paul’s good friends, who lived in Colossae and owned a slave named Onesimus, to free
