In the years and centuries since this letter was written, sent, read, and then circulated to other nearby congregations, Christian churches have found it to be useful. That is why we begin this series of devotional readings with it. It is a letter that closely relates to the kind of situation you are experiencing in college, some 1,900-plus years later. Hopefully, you will feel welcome to participate in the conversation about the importance of Jesus Christ in the lives of people like you—people interested in learning about the world and in growing in the Christian faith.
Please listen to the description of what was going on in Colossae and to Paul’s comments and suggestions. Listen to see if and how any of that might apply to you in your situation these many years later and many miles removed. Feel free to ask your own questions of the letter’s text.
Remember that the Colossians were living their story, Paul was applying the gospel (the story of Jesus Christ), and that you are writing your own story as a college student and Christian. These written devotional paragraphs are merely “helps” that try to keep “on the same page” and point to relevant challenges in today’s college experience that needs to be considered.
All of those sisters and brothers who have gone before you in the faith welcome you to the conversation.
Prayer: Thank you, Lord, for living, dying, and rising to embrace me among the saints. Amen.
2 – Thankful For Hope
Colossians 1:3–8 — (3) In our prayers for you we always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, (4) for we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love that you have for all the saints, (5) because of the hope laid up for you in heaven. You have heard of this hope before in the word of the truth, the gospel (6) that has come to you. Just as it is bearing fruit and growing in the whole world, so it has been bearing fruit among yourselves from the day you heard it and truly comprehended the grace of God. (7) This you learned from Epaphras, our beloved fellow servant. He is a faithful minister of Christ on your behalf, (8) and he has made known to us your love in the Spirit.
Gripe, gripe, gripe; grumble, complain, whine, criticize; carp, nitpick, moan and groan. Complaining is a common way to “communicate” since there is always something we can agree to complain about: the weather, politicians, the referee’s latest decision, the food, the professor, the class schedule, the course requirements. And there is usually a sympathetic listener who will add his own verse to the lament. But isn’t complaining usually an activity of the uninformed person? The complainer views the world from her own point of view and seldom truly understands the whole picture. College might be of some help at this point—offering perspectives from which to realize that life is complicated and that there may be good reasons why things are as they are.
Instead of complaining about whatever might be a problem in Colossae, Paul begins with thanksgiving. He takes his time to write to people he didn’t know, in a place he had never visited, yet he is thankful. Here he is probably in jail, yet he is thankful. Why he is thankful? The Colossians have the three Christian virtues: faith, love and hope. He is especially thankful for their hope. Things might seem bad but there is a hope that is secure; it is a hope that does not depend upon humans; a hope that is established and guaranteed by God; a hope upon which faith is based and from which you can live out your life in love for others. Hope provides the grounding for your faith (ideas) and your love (actions). One author describes hope as “the adequacy of the power of Christ to overcome all other powers.” You have that hope; and it’s a sure thing—“laid up for you in heaven.”
Prayer: Help me to be thankful—perhaps even for some of those things I gripe about. Amen.
3 – Filled with Knowledge
Colossians 1:9–12 — (9) For this reason, since the day we heard it, we have not ceased praying for you and asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of God’s will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, (10) so that you may lead lives worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him, as you bear fruit in every good work and as you grow in the knowledge of God. (11) May you be made strong with all the strength that comes from his glorious power, and may you be prepared to endure everything with patience, while joyfully (12) giving thanks to the Father, who has enabled you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the light.
Today’s colleges grew out of the church’s long and patient efforts to provide education. So here you are, inheriting that gift. Can Paul’s wish that the Colossians “endure everything with patience” be a reality for you as you move through your college career?
And don’t skip that part where Paul tells these folks he hasn’t met that he is praying that they be “filled with the knowledge of God’s will.” That can happen in college as a kind of value-added bonus as you study everything else—because everything you study will, at the same time, be about God’s creation.
The fact that you have been admitted to college shows that the college is confident that you can complete the assignments, acquire the required knowledge, and get your degree. You will be expected to proceed step by step through your program, learning more and more. Then, at commencement, the speaker might even say, “This is only a beginning, a commencement, and you will go on learning the rest of your life.” The real student never knows enough and never quits learning.
It is Paul’s hope (and prayer) that his readers will grow in “knowledge of God’s will.” He prays that this increase in knowledge occurs with spiritual wisdom and understanding—“knowledge” being information; “wisdom,” the practical application of that knowledge in your daily life; “understanding,” a deep and sensitive comprehension that goes beyond mere information. The college setting is a great one for working seriously at the business of growing in “knowledge of God’s will.” The strength for all of this comes to you as God’s gift. There is always a next step—more to know, more to love, more to learn. You won’t need to ask what will be on the test. You will be ready.
Prayer: Thank you for the gifts of knowledge wisdom and understanding. I want more! Amen.
4 – Power of Darkness
Colossians 1:13–14 — (13) He has rescued us from the power of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of his beloved Son, (14) in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.
What does college have to do with politics? A lot. Will the state legislature allocate enough money to keep your school operating? Will it approve concealed or open carry of guns on campus? Do the local police have jurisdiction to enforce city or state laws on your campus? Paul is still in the thanksgiving mode as he expresses gratitude for God’s liberation from the dominion of darkness to the kingdom of Christ. Is this only a figure of speech or is there some real change to which he refers? What it sounds like is a change of citizenship effected by God’s executive decision to move Christians from living under the rule of one power (a bad one) to a new power (a good one).
Where is this power or kingdom of darkness? It seems to refer to any place in which God through Christ is not in charge. Isn’t the expression “power of darkness” pretty harsh to use in describing a college? College is a power. Being in college is at least somewhat like living in any community. If God is not the top power and authority of the college (or community) what is the alternative? From a Christian perspective would such a community be okay? Sort of okay? Semi-okay? Almost okay? Or can we admit—at least while we read this New Testament letter—that the college would have to fall into the category of “darkness”—at least for the purpose of discussion?
The previous citizenship in which the pre-Christian Colossians had lived was characterized as sinful and wrong thinking—“the power of darkness.” The new citizenship is characterized by forgiveness of sins—which is what redemption means here. We could not get away from the first power on our own. How can we live in the old place even though our commitment is to a new one? That is exactly one of the central questions addressed in this letter. In case you hadn’t already guessed, this is not your old Sunday school religion. This is faith in the midst of the serious rough-and-tumble conflict between powers. There are two places—mutually distant regarding their nature,