Struggling for the Gospel

I do apologize for not posting more lately. Amanda was sick last Thursday and I spent the day with the kids. I was sick last Friday. Then there was the weekend and catching up. Here is a verse to contemplate:

Col 1:28-29
(28) Him we proclaim, warning everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom, that we may present everyone mature in Christ.
(29) For this I toil, struggling with all his energy that he powerfully works within me.

Let's break this down a little bit. First, we see the need to proclaim Christ. That means that we need to be talking about Him and sharing Him with people. What is part of the message? We are warning people and teaching people with all wisdom. While I do think that the gospel is much more than eternal fire insurance, the warning of eternal condemnation must be part of the message. We have to do this with wisdom. To me, that means we must know our Bibles. We also must exercise care in how we communicate our message to people.

Why do we do this? Paul wanted to present the Colossians mature in Christ. That means that this is not just sharing the gospel to unbelievers, but also helping believers grow in faith as well. I think that this is big part of the "teaching" he refers to. The message from the pulpit, the counselor, or just the Christian friend should be one of helping each other grow in Christ. I think that starts with Scripture. We have to know what it says and then we need to prayerfully apply it.

The image of "toil" is powerful to me. I know that many a minister has been burnt out because the ministry was not done with the energy that Christ powerfully works within us. If we do this on our own we will fail. It will simply be labor and we cannot do it any more than we can keep moving stacks of firewood indefinitely without some external nourishment in the form of food and water.

This is one of my memory verses for Biblical counseling. I hope that you enjoyed thinking through this with me.