Week 27 --- Colossians 1:10-12

We pray that you'll live well for the Master, making him proud of you as you work hard in His orchard. As you learn more and more about how God works, you will learn how to do your work. We pray that you'll have the strength to stick it out over the long haul -- not the grim strength of gritting your teeth, but the glory-strength God gives. It is strength that endures the unendurable and spills over into joy, thanking the Father who makes us strong enough to take part in everything bright and beautiful that he has for us.

I was talking with some friends recently about how a life spent following Jesus has its share of suffering. Seems like really a lot of suffering sometimes. And it's not the first time this has come up in conversation. A few years ago, a friend and I said these same things to each other, and I went home and started praying for her that day that things would happen in her life that would prove this statement wrong. I prayed this verse for her so much that instead of us associating suffering with Jesus (which sometimes may be true) that we would find joy and contentment in loving him more than we would notice the hard parts. And I believed so strongly that God would fulfill this in her life, and I have watched over the last year as that has really come to fruition. So cool. So I've been thinking about this verse this past week as a reminder of how glory-strength is better than teeth-gritting strength.

I found this blog that I've kind of liked reading this past week. I cut and pasted this excerpt that I thought was pretty cool.

Stop being so afraid. You have yourself so wound up that you
don’t resemble anything near free and full of grace. You’re an unopened doll.
Accessories fastened down with rubber bands and hair sewn to the inside of a box decorated with a fake version of fabulous. A promise never kept. A pioneer playing the role of settler. In trying to appear whatever your immediate culture deems ‘right’, you’ve divided yourself and are living in a prison of public approval. If there is a point when all of our secrets are told, then go ahead and get it over with now.

Pull your good intentions out and see how they hold up in the sun. I’ll tell you from experience, a doll whose head has been pulled off a time or two is more useful than a doll who has never been through the hell of losing her head. We all go through trouble and in those times, we look for someone who has been there. Pristine and poised is worthless to the hand sticking up out of the swamp. How can you tell someone their life can be put back together if you don’t bare your own scars from the ripping? Live out in the open. Go through the hell of it. It’s how you find out who you really are.

Read more: http://www.graceisforsinners.com/#ixzz0tsKcD1YH Under Creative Commons License: Attribution Non-Commercial No Derivatives