Journal Entry ~ 01/21/19

21 And you, who once were alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds,
22 he has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him,
23 if indeed you continue in the faith, stable and steadfast, not shifting from the hope of the gospel that you heard, which has been proclaimed in all creation under heaven, and of which I, Paul, became a minister. - Colossians 1:21-23

At the very end of these two verses, Paul reminds us of our job as reconciled believers of Christ. We are to be ministers of His message. Minister in this passage is not translated as an ordained clergyman, it simply means servant. We are called to be servants of the Gospel that saved our lives. 

So what does it mean to be a servant of the Gospel? Clearly, it first means we are called to share what He has done in our lives who we once were, and we have now become. I’ll be the first to admit that sharing the Gospel of Christ with non-believers can be scary. We worry about how they’ll respond - what if they ask me a question I don’t know how to answer?  What if they challenge or mock my beliefs? What if it changes the way they view me or our relationship?  These questions keep most people from talking about their faith outside of their church family. They won’t share in their neighborhood and they won’t share at work. 

I get it. They’re the same questions that run through my head when I consider sharing the Gospel. But I know those are lies from the enemy that would keep me from spreading His Word. I remind myself that falling into the trap that people will judge me or mock me places more value on people’s opinions of me that God’s view of me. It also fails to place any importance on their life - the people God has called me to do life with deserve to know the saving grace of our Lord Jesus Christ.  When I am challenged by the questions they may ask, I try to knock down that arrogance by reminding myself I am not the One who saves. My controlling nature tends to want to “complete” the job by walking someone all the way through to salvation, but that’s not my job. God just calls me to share, so I should simply be sharing - what the person does with the information is between them and God. I am called to plant seeds - I don’t need to worry about all the steps needed in that person’s life to bring that seed to life. God takes care of that. 

Ultimately, being a servant of God is about humbling yourself and placing His requests and others’ needs over our own desires. A servant is a devoted helper or follower. As a servant of Christ, I am called to humble myself, submit to God and serve others. Paul dedicates his life to this mission and stands as a example to us all. I want to be a good and faithful servant of His kingdom, but I know I don’t come close to the life Paul led. But i don’t get trapped in that thinking - instead I try to take every day as a new opportunity to live out what it means to be a faithful servant of Christ. 


Press on ~ you are loved 💗

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