Stay the Course.  Colosssians 1.23

I am captured by this verse:  "But you must continue to believe this truth and stand firmly in it. Don’t drift away from the assurance you received when you heard the Good News." Colossians 1.23, NLT

Good Day. 

Last week, I shared verses 3 through 14 with the high school student leaders, mentioning the premium Paul put on praying for the Colossian believers--stressing to them that we must be praying for one another.  There were 21 of the teens, and they seemed to be following me, taking it in, some even making notes, but I can never be sure, until somehow a scripture or lesson comes back around.  Well, it did…in short order. 

Some of the best text messages I get from these much-loved students of mine come late at night, when their day is finally winding down, and I am already long asleep.  This one was from a football player, a junior, newly transformed by the power of the Gospel – truly!  It read:  “Hey Christine, it’s Jamo, I was wondering if you had any prayer requests…”  ‘Oh, my goodness,’ I thought.  ‘He got it!’  I responded, asking that he pray for my oldest child, who is far from God.  ‘And how about you?’ I queried.  “That I will stay strong in my faith and bring glory to God on campus,” he texted.  ‘Yes, Lord,’ I looked upward, ‘he really got it.  And Lord, thank you for Jamo—thanks for what you are doing in him.’

Paul includes Jamo’s admonition here in chapter one:  “Continue in your faith, established and firm, and do not move from the hope held out in the gospel.” In essence, Paul is saying, “Christ Follower:  Stay the Course.”  He had told the Corinthians, ‘Be strong, immovable in your faith…’¹  “He who called you is faithful”² and ‘he will strengthen and protect from the evil one.’³  Christian, we are to stay the course because God is faithful, and it is what he asks of us.

Besides, people are watching us.  People are watching you and me when we go through difficulties in life.  How do we fare?  Are we running scared or trusting, believing that the God who has got ‘the whole world in his hands’ has us, too.  We say that we trust God, but do we trust him with our tough circumstances, with our heartaches, and in the midst of our trials?  Do we trust that—no matter what—his heart toward us is good?  We bring glory to God when we truly trust him. 

How to stay the course, or ‘stay at your post’?  I close with this passage from 1 Timothy, with more to follow tomorrow--

         “Stay at your post reading Scripture, giving counsel, teaching. And that special gift of ministry you were given when the leaders of the church laid hands on you and prayed - keep that dusted off and in use. Cultivate these things. Immerse yourself in them. The people will all see you mature right before their eyes! Keep a firm grasp on both your character and your teaching. Don't be diverted. Just keep at it. Both you and those who hear you will experience salvation.”⁴

Stay the course … stay strong in the Lord and in his mighty power.⁵