Colossians 2:1 I want you to know how hard I am contending for you and for those at Laodicea, and for all who have not met me personally.
Paul is saying here, “I’m fighting for you! I’m pulling for you to win! I’ve got your back!” Paul was giving his very best for those in Colossae and Laodicea. What is amazing, is that Paul is giving his very best not for his close friends or college buddies but for a bunch of people he has never met!
How often can I really say that I am contending, or fighting, for another person? I might pray for you, but am I really putting my all into that prayer like it is life and death and there is a spiritual battle in the heavens going on? Not likely. I rarely pray for those I know with such fervor let alone for total strangers. Lord, forgive me for being so apathetic about the lives of those around me. Forgive me for being so selfish that I spend more energy praying for my wants than I do for the spiritual needs of those I know and don’t know.
What drives a man to pray with everything he has for another person that he doesn’t even know? The love of God is the only force that strong. Paul says it compels us; it constrains us, it controls us (2 Corinthians 5:14). Lord, fill me with that kind of love, your kind of love, that will drive me to battle for others.
Who do you need to go to war for today? Do it in the love of Christ!
Leave a Reply