Mind Meld of A Different Kind

COLOSSIANS 1:1-2

This letter is from Paul, chosen by the will of God to be an apostle of Christ Jesus, and from our brother Timothy.

We are writing to God’s holy people in the city of Colosse, who are faithful brothers and sisters in Christ.

May God our Father give you grace and peace.

Pick Me!

Little kids want to be picked. Older people would just assume you left them alone. Paul seemingly had no choice. He was chosen by God to be an apostle. It was not Paul’s life-long goal to be an apostle; his dream was to be a Pharisee. He wanted to be a respected religious leader not rejected by the establishment.

I had different dreams for my life than God did. I think I can say with Paul, I am chosen to be a pastor. It was not my goal and frankly, I still think my plan for life would have been a lot easier than what God has called me to. However, I realize when God chooses, our choice is either obedience which leads to blessing or rebellion which leads to misery.

The good news in all this is that Paul found himself surrounded by faithful people God had also called. He addresses the people in Colossi as “faithful brothers and sisters.” Without faithful brothers and sisters I would not be able to do what God has called me to. I praise God for each person who is faithful in my life to pray for me, encourage me and come alongside me in my ministry. Some of those people are you. So thank you for your support and encouragement today.

Captain of the team, I want to thank you for choosing me even on the days when the work is hard. Thank you for surrounding me with faithful brothers and sisters who are there to encourage me. Help me know I am not alone in the work you call me to and that I can rely on my brothers and sisters as well as my captain. - Dan Jones

I'm ready to be surprised!

God has a habit of picking unlikely people to lead in his kingdom. Paul was one of those people, and he knew it. Highly educated, but highly antagonistic toward anything having to do with Jesus. Strongly motivated and self-directed, but one who imprisoned and killed Christians with that motivation. Standing there, holding the coats of men stoning the Christian deacon, Stephen, no one would ever have guessed that this man would become the moving force behind the spread of Christianity through the Roman Empire!

The only way Paul sat with his protégé, Timothy, writing to the group of Christians at Colosse, was through God’s intervention and call.

I wonder what God has up his sleeve in the 21^st century. What avid secularist working to sideline public expressions of Christianity, or scientist spreading philosophical naturalism alongside evolutionary biology, or Muslim extremist planning suicide bombings will be blindsided by God as they go about living out their agendas? Who will become another Paul?

It’s easy to watch people oppose, limit, or mute the voice of Christ in the world and wring our hands wondering if the future will have any room for Christianity. At Stephen’s stoning, Christianity hadn’t even broken out of Jerusalem! And there was Paul, whose work against Christianity unwittingly helped it, and whose work for the cause of Christ helped it even more.

The Kingdom of God has spread around the world and continues to move and grow powerfully. And there are people actively working against it. I wonder which ones of them will end up writing something like Paul, “Chosen by the will of God.”

Sovereign Lord of the Church, against which the gates of hell can not stand, you have reminded me today that you are full of surprises in your active commitment to redeem this world. May I never doubt your ability to raise up men and women, from the ranks of the most antagonistic, to further your cause. - Mike Leamon