Power For Living

Col. 1.11-13

God's power is available to us, and necessary for us, as we seek to live in ways faithful to his revealed will--seen in Christ.

Paradoxically, it’s hard to rely on someone else, especially God. For most of us, I’m willing to bet, we have an easy enough time crediting our “salvation” to God, but it’s a lot harder living thereafter in his Christ-embodied grace. That’s why the next part of Paul’s prayer is both a petition and a reminder.

The apostle of God’s grace beseeches God to strengthen the Colossians with his “power, according to his glorious might” (1.11). As brand new followers of Jesus and children of God, the Colossians require power from their Lord to enable them to grow in wisdom as they seek to live lives pleasing to God.

While enduring the hardships along the way, they should give “thanks to the Father, who has qualified [them] to share in the inheritance of the saints in light” (1.12). Paul reminds us that from start to finish God is our source of strength. The same power that is available to us now as we strive to live faithfully before God through fruit-bearing works and intimate knowledge of him is the power that has presented us with “a hope . . . in heaven” (1.5). He alone has qualified us. By thanking him regularly we remind ourselves that his power is the source of our strength.

Yet even with reminding myself of God’s prior goodness and strength exercised on my behalf, it’s difficult to know, as I expressed earlier, how it is that I should go about fulfilling my (sometimes) earnest desire to please him. How can I be sure that my actions do not stem from a desire for recognition, self-aggrandizement, or pride? Is the connection between salvation and fruit bearing simply an intellectual one, by which we remind ourselves of God’s grace and instruct ourselves to live fruitful lives in appreciation? Paul begins to answer these questions with the next few phrases.

God has qualified us by means of two notable actions: (1) “he has delivered us from the domain of darkness and (2) has transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins” (1.13-14). Whether we consciously feel it or not, we have been taken from one realm and placed in another. The former realm (note that the “darkness” contrasts with the current situation as “saints in light”) in which we operated was one of futile actions, perpetrated from selfish motives and resulting in destructive effects. By stark contrast, now we belong to the kingdom of Christ, through whom, Paul explains, we have right standing God. We are restored. As to the importance of Christ in God’s plan cosmic plan of creation and redemption--and, by extension, for our life lived before God--Paul elaborates in the next section.