His Power

6/15/2009

Colossians 1:29 29 For this purpose also I labor, striving according to His power, which mightily works within me.

New American Standard Bible

Paul makes this statement in Colossians 1.24, “Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I do my share on behalf of His body, which is the church, in filling up what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions.” What he’s saying is that he is working not to complete something Christ left incomplete, but he’s working to repay what Christ did for him. The verse could be reworded: ‘what is wanting [unfulfilled, lacking] in the afflictions of Christ to be borne [carried, experienced] by me, that I supply in order to repay the benefits which Christ conferred on me by filling up the measure of the afflictions laid upon me’.(1) Paul wanted to be completely fulfilled by everything that Jesus did for him and participated in the Kingdom with that very attitude: “That I may repay Jesus for what He did for me.”

But the key is that all that Paul did, he did according to His (Jesus’) power that worked mightily within him; Paul wasn’t slugging it out on his own, he strove for Jesus by Jesus’ power (the Holy Spirit) which was in him, enabling him to do so.

This is important for me (and every other believer) because there is much lacking in me (and in us) of the fulfillment of Christ’s sufferings. What Jesus did, He did so that I/we may live the abundant life and so that I/we may be effective in sharing my/our faith. So today I am taught that I must take every spiritual advantage of His sufferings so that what He did for me may realize its divine purpose and eternal reward. I am here on earth to serve Jesus but I can never do that in my own strength, only His.

Father in Heaven,

You have given me all I need for life and godliness through the Gift of the Holy Spirit; may I walk in the fullness of His presence this day and rely on His strength to accomplish what You’ve planned for me to do in this abundant life that is mine in Jesus – in His Name I pray, amen.

(1) cf. Strong, J. (1996). The exhaustive concordance of the Bible: Showing every word of the test of the common English version of the canonical books, and every occurrence of each word in regular order. (Electronic Ed.) (G466). Ontario: Woodside Bible Fellowship.