Colossians 1:27-29 Addicted to Watching the Glory
Format for Your Devotions
Instructions: Do not read my example devotion until you have completed your own devotional time in the scriptures. Reading my thoughts first may limit your own understanding. Let the Holy Spirit speak to you alone before looking to see what anyone else has to say, whether it is me, a Bible commentary, or a friend. Let God speak to you before you let another person speak to you. I have provided a format, but modify it to fit your needs. For example, I usually combine my application and prayer together talking to God about the application to my own life. You can go through this devotion process mentally, speaking out loud, or in writing as you wish. Don’t worry if you are not following this process exactly. Sometimes, I add extra information and sometimes I emphasize one part more than others. However, you should always think about what you learn about God from this passage.
Step 1: Pray–Ask for the Holy Spirit’s guidance first of all and that God may reveal the lessons that He wants you to have that day. Request that God protect you from Satan’s distractions (and the devil will try to distract you whether it is pinching the baby or putting you to sleep). Ask to see God more clearly as you read and think about the passage.
Step 2: Read the passage–Read to get an overview of the information first. Then start looking at specific parts after the first reading. You may read a larger or smaller section than I have here because you do not have to follow my organization at all.
Step 3: Understand the passage–You can summarize, ask and answer your own questions about the passage, visualize the story, analyze the characters, and relate this passage to other scriptures and personal experiences.
Step 4: What does this reveal about God?–What do you learn about the Father, Son, and/or Holy Spirit from this passage?
Step 5: Apply this to your own life.
Step 6: Prayer
My Example Devotion: October 1, 2020 Colossians 1:27-29
Note: In the devotion examples, I leave my questions and thought processes in the text because I am trying to demonstrate that a devotional time is a dialogue with God about what you are reading from His word. As such, any questions or ideas that you have should be explored by talking it out with God. These example devotions are not my attempts to teach you what the meaning of a particular scripture is. They are an attempt to teach you the process of devotions, which is a combination of prayer and Bible study where you explore ideas with God as you read His word.
To them God chose to make known how great among the Gentiles are the riches of the glory of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. Him we proclaim, warning everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom, that we may present everyone mature in Christ. For this I toil, struggling with all his energy that he powerfully works within me.
(Understanding the Text) “Them” means the followers of Jesus. The previous verse said “the mystery hidden for ages and generations but now revealed to his saints.” Thus, it says that God chose to reveal to His saints that He is present among the Gentiles also. Paul says that the Gentile Christians have the riches of Jesus living in them in just as much abundance as the Jewish Christians.
I can’t get my mind around the phrase “the riches of the glory of this mystery.” The mystery is the Messiah living in a person. Glory is one of those words that I have a hard time with. God’s glory is His character. Glory is that which comes out from a person and shines on others. But here, I’m not sure what to make of the riches of the glory. Based on the abundance of definitions of glory, I get the feeling that Thayer seems to have a problem with the definition of the words also. “Δόξα Doxa Thayer Definition: 1) opinion, judgment, view 2) opinion, estimate, whether good or bad concerning someone 2a) in the NT always a good opinion concerning one, resulting in praise, honour, and glory 3) splendour, brightness 3a) of the moon, sun, stars 3b) magnificence, excellence, preeminence, dignity, grace 3c) majesty 3c1) a thing belonging to God 3c1) the kingly majesty which belongs to him as supreme ruler, majesty in the sense of the absolute perfection of the deity 3c2) a thing belonging to Christ 3c2a) the kingly majesty of the Messiah 3c2b) the absolutely perfect inward or personal excellency of Christ; the majesty 3c3) of the angels 3c3a) as apparent in their exterior brightness 4) a most glorious condition, most exalted state 4a) of that condition with God the Father in heaven to which Christ was raised after he had achieved his work on earth 4b) the glorious condition of blessedness into which is appointed and promised that true Christians shall enter after their Saviour’s return from heaven.” However, I think that it can be boiled down to the idea of having a very positive opinion of someone or brightness or most exalted state. But, this doesn’t help me with Paul saying “the riches of the glory of this mystery.” The Message says “to know this rich and glorious secret inside and out,” which is just a rewording of Paul’s words rather than new synonyms that help me understand. I guess it is saying that only the Jewish followers of Christ and not the other Jews found out the secret about how spiritual and close to God the Gentiles could be. Only they have learned the wonder of watching a new Gentile convert become filled with Jesus’ Spirit and grow and become a child of God. In that case, the riches don’t belong to the Gentiles. They belong to the person introducing Jesus to the Gentile unbeliever. He is the one who has become rich by watching God’s light enter into a dark person and create a child of light.
Paul says that our only hope of glory is Jesus living in us. That’s why Paul tells everyone about Jesus and warns them that without Jesus, they are in darkness. He constantly speaks of Jesus to others because he loves to be able to be pivotal in the process of transforming people. He wants to stand before Jesus with a big smile on his face as he watches them shine before their Savior. He wants to see the transformation from dark ignorance into light and beauty. Having seen the transformation, Paul is addicted and wants to see it again and again, so he keeps laboring and sweating and being punished by his enemies so that he can keep working with Jesus to find more that could be rescued. For Paul it was like Desmond Doss’s “Just one more, Lord,” except that Paul got to have rest and happiness at times just enjoying his new brothers and sisters and working with them. They were worth the struggle. Thus, Paul is not bragging about how he is suffering for them and trying to lay a guilt trip on them. He is saying that he sees their worth and value and they are worth any struggle or sacrifice because of the reward of seeing them glow with Jesus inside of them.
(Revelation of God) Paul says that the energy that he is using for toil is Jesus’ energy. Thus, I don’t have to be a Paul to be able to work for God. God’s energy can work in me as well as in anyone else. I will not be working in my own strength. God is present and working Himself through my efforts. God will not stop working in anyone until they reach maturity (and not then either). I understand Paul’s desire for the converts to continue to grow and become workers for God in their own right. I see so many people who make a start but then stay baby Christians desiring to be spoon fed instead of standing in the strength of God’s energy themselves. God wants us each to be able to stand as mature adult Christians rather than remaining babies who cannot make a move without another human’s feeding. He wants us to take our sustenance directly from Him so that He can bless us even more greatly and so that we can have a full loving relationship with Him.
(Application / Prayer) My application for myself is that I hope to one day love people as much as Paul did and that I may one day love to see them glow. I pray that I will know You and be addicted to seeing people transformed. Give me the strength, the love, and the eyesight to see people transformed.