We kicked off a new series last Sunday with an introduction to Paul’s letter to the Colossians, a unique letter he wrote to a church he had never met and could not visit. He had penned it while imprisoned, writing in response to the stories of faith and challenges that Epaphras, a Christian who helped establish this church, brought to him. Through this introduction that reflected on his first words in Colossians, we see the foundation for the truth of Christ he would later write about in the rest of his letter.

 Paul begins his letter with a prayer of thanksgiving and of hope for the church of Colossae. He thanked God for their faith and love for one another, “We give thanks to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for you, since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and the love which you have for all the saints” (v3-4). He also prayed for their steadfast growth in Christ, knowing that there are some who came to them bringing an alternate worldview that questioned Christ’s supremacy. “For this reason also, since the day we heard of it, we have not ceased to pray for you and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so that you will walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, to please Him in all respects, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God” (v9-10). To be steadfast in their faith, Paul knew they needed the wisdom to understand God’s purpose and to live a life according to His will.  

 Now, what does knowing and living out God’s will mean? Pastor Jay helped us understand this by going back to the beginning when God created man, and by using the illustration of a tapestry and a song. After all, there’s no better way to understand our purpose, than to look to our Creator.

 Traveling back to Genesis, to the sixth day of creation, we read, “God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them” (Genesis 1: 27). Human beings are designed to bear God’s image and likeness. To please Him, we need to obey His will and learn to live according to His design for us. But the journey to bearing His image is like the process of creating a beautifully designed tapestry and a wonderfully crafted song. Like a tapestry, our journey includes both bright and dark threads. We go through periods of joy, but also periods of trials when we can’t help but ask God “Why?”. Yet, it is this very contrast of bright and dark threads, of moments of joy and trials, that intricately weaves into the beautiful tapestry of our lives lived out in God’s image. Like the song Amazing Grace, the sufferings and injustice we see in our journey could also be the very inspiration for the song we craft as we live in God’s likeness. John Newton, the composer of the song Amazing Grace, drew inspiration from his experience as the captain of a slave ship. It is from this, and his transformation from coming to know Christ as his Lord and Savior, that gave us this beautiful song most of us sing in worship today.  

So, in his letter, Paul begins with thanksgiving and a prayer that the Colossians would come to know and live out God’s will for them to become His image and likeness. 

Paul’s prayer is not only relevant to the church of Colossae but also for us Christians today. As we reflect upon last Sunday’s message, let’s pray that we and our fellow Christians would steadfastly grow in our journey of knowing and living out God’s will for us as men and women created in His image and likeness.