The Basics According to Paul

Scripture: We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love that you have for all the saints, because of the hope laid up for you in heaven. Of this you have heard before in the word of the truth, the gospel, which has come to you, as indeed in the whole world it is bearing fruit and increasing—as it also does among you, since the day you heard it and understood the grace of God in truth, just as you learned it from Epaphras our beloved fellow servant. He is a faithful minister of Christ on your behalf and has made known to us your love in the Spirit. ... For I want you to know how great a struggle I have for you and for those at Laodicea and for all who have not seen me face to face. Colossians 1:3-8; 2:1

Observation: Paul has never before met the church in Colossae. It is a church planted by Epaphras, and never visited by Paul who is now imprisoned in Rome and thus with no expectation to ever meet them. He has heard of their faith, but has no other insight into them and their church other than its proximity and therefore likely affinity to the church at Laodicea.

As a result, this entire book of Colossians is, effectively, "generic." This is a letter of generic teaching filled with the default teaching/instructions from Paul. The four chapters, therefore, address the following subjects that it appears Paul would consider the most basic elements of Christian behavior in the church:

-- Upholding each other in prayer
-- Acknowledging Jesus as the head of the church
-- Reconciliation and redemption through faith in Jesus
-- Avoiding human-based belief systems
-- Avoiding stumbling over issues related to Jewish law (the sufficiency of faith)
-- Repenting from your old life and old morality
-- Rules for good Christian families for husbands, wives, children, slaves, and masters
-- Being wise in words and teaching to outsiders

Application: How am I doing at these? Or to be more specific, which of these basics am I probably doing worst at? To be honest it is prayer ... my prayer life just isn't good enough. I may often speak to God in my head, but I am rarely giving him my full attention in any meaningful act of conversation, confession, worship, praise, thanksgiving, or humble submission. I may seek help - may being the operative word - but I rarely thank him for success or turn to him with questions or simply tell him how great he is and how much I love him.

And I certainly don't bring others to him in prayer outside of my immediate family and maybe a struggling friend rarely.

These are things I need to be doing daily. Continually. And these are the basics - the baseline of behavior according to Paul. This is an area I can improve.

Prayer: Lord, you are so great, and your ways and love are so amazing!! I praise you, Lord, with all I am, and seek to make my life a daily act of praise and worship toward you so others can know your glory. I do ask for your assistance in my actions every day, so that I can reveal you to others, serve you through others, and love you by others. Please forgive me of my sins, and give me strength to forgive others for the very minor issues that may offend me, as I would seek to love them and not wrong them. In the name of Jesus I pray, amen.