By the way, I am not writing these entries at 4 a.m. I am not sure what time zone this blog thinks I am in, but I assure you I am not losing any sleep.
In my Bible reading this morning I read Paul's concluding remarks to the Colossians. There can be a temptation to skip over these sections of Paul's letters because the names sound funny, we don't know a lot about the people and the situations involved, etc. However, this morning I came across a couple juicy nuggets. Here's one of them.
Colossians 4:17, Tell Archippus: "See to it that you complete the work you have received in the Lord."
We don't know much about Archippus, except that in Philemon 2 Paul calls him a "fellow soldier." I can't help but wonder what task Archippus was working on. What happened? Was he praying one day and the Lord spoke to him about something only he could do? Did he start out, like so many Christians do in church work, full of passion and urgency? If so, then what caused him to quit?
You and I know the answer to that quite well. We know, because our own lives and churches are littered with undone tasks and responsibilities the Lord gave to us. We may have started well, but then something happened. We face opposition that saps the life out of us. Or worse, we encounter apathy. Nothing discourages servants more than discovering apathy in the body of Christ. Sometimes we get distracted, other times we just get bored or burnt out. Too many of us are just lazy - we lack the capacity to finish what we start, to see it through to the end. We can't be bothered, we are too busy, not qualified, done it all before, its time for the young people to do it, and so forth.
Archippus wasn't with Paul, he was in Colosse. I imagine that no one else knew of his task. There they are, sitting in church reading a letter sent by Paul. Whoever is reading it out loud to the congregation gets to 4:17, and all eyes turn to Archippus, who is sitting in the back of the room, slowly sinking in his chair. "Whazzup Archippus?"
I can't say it strongly enough: complete the work you have received in the Lord. It is too important to be left undone, neglected, or to be done half-way. See it through to the end.
In my Bible reading this morning I read Paul's concluding remarks to the Colossians. There can be a temptation to skip over these sections of Paul's letters because the names sound funny, we don't know a lot about the people and the situations involved, etc. However, this morning I came across a couple juicy nuggets. Here's one of them.
Colossians 4:17, Tell Archippus: "See to it that you complete the work you have received in the Lord."
We don't know much about Archippus, except that in Philemon 2 Paul calls him a "fellow soldier." I can't help but wonder what task Archippus was working on. What happened? Was he praying one day and the Lord spoke to him about something only he could do? Did he start out, like so many Christians do in church work, full of passion and urgency? If so, then what caused him to quit?
You and I know the answer to that quite well. We know, because our own lives and churches are littered with undone tasks and responsibilities the Lord gave to us. We may have started well, but then something happened. We face opposition that saps the life out of us. Or worse, we encounter apathy. Nothing discourages servants more than discovering apathy in the body of Christ. Sometimes we get distracted, other times we just get bored or burnt out. Too many of us are just lazy - we lack the capacity to finish what we start, to see it through to the end. We can't be bothered, we are too busy, not qualified, done it all before, its time for the young people to do it, and so forth.
Archippus wasn't with Paul, he was in Colosse. I imagine that no one else knew of his task. There they are, sitting in church reading a letter sent by Paul. Whoever is reading it out loud to the congregation gets to 4:17, and all eyes turn to Archippus, who is sitting in the back of the room, slowly sinking in his chair. "Whazzup Archippus?"
I can't say it strongly enough: complete the work you have received in the Lord. It is too important to be left undone, neglected, or to be done half-way. See it through to the end.
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