“For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you. We continually ask God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all the wisdom and understanding that the Spirit gives, so that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God,” Colossians 1:9-10 NIV
Once again we are working in this passage of Colossians. It seems like every word, or at least every phrase, has a richness in it that I do not want just to pass over. The part for today is the very last two phrases. We have worked with the rest of the passage listed here and have come to understand that it is the full-experiential knowledge of God that the Holy Spirit is talking about. So that our relationship and our interactions in Him are wrapped in His love, understanding, empowerment, and blessing. We are then empowered within to begin to allow the fruit of doing good to develop. Most of our development in Him is just with Him. However, here he has included what we do in that development process. We learn to experientially know more of our Father by spending time with Him doing good for other people.
Sometimes this calls for a real change in our thinking. I am reminded of 1 Corinthians 9:8, “And God is able to bless you abundantly, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work.” In other words, when we receive abundantly (speaking here of financial gain) it is for the purpose of helping others. Most of us will need to read the 2 chapters of 1 Corinthians 8-9 to see what is really being talked about. However, for this post it is enough to know the expectation of our Father is that we do good works and that opens the opportunity to richly abound in a very special relationship in the Father’s heart. He is not (and neither should we be) impressed with money or goods. He is, however, deeply moved by a heart of love that is bend on giving, and giving, and giving. It is not something that we do by ourselves, but something we do in Him, through Him, and with Him.
So when we produce the fruit through or in every good work, then we grow in the knowledge of God. That word knowledge is the same word used in verse nine. There he was praying they would be filled with the full-experiential knowledge of the Lord’s will, here it is the full-experiential knowledge of God Himself. As we read these verses, let’s see that it is one thing accessing another, then that accessing another, and another, and another. Each step opening the sight of another step and another concept in His love.
These wonders are awesome. Beloved, let’s sit with them and allow that understanding to filter through our own, until we are thinking like He thinks and allowing what He choses to do within us. He is awesome in every way, and He will do it, if we wish. Part of the result of our developing the fruit of good works is that we end up growing up in experiencing Him. We, in effect, have chosen to join Him in His work. Sweet!!!
Mannaword 