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April 12 - A week after Easter and contemplating God's will

 This past week I watched my granddaughter twice, caught an infection (sinus and eye) that I'm trying to recover from today by staying in bed and not acting like I can ignore it, recorded a very good podcast (because of the guest), spoke at church to a small group, and lived, I hope, for Jesus. I also reviewed my upcoming book that will be out in the early fall and thought a lot about its launch and marketing. I made a lasagna, cared for a garden, talked with friends, and read about self-publishing for a presentation next month. 

This morning, thanks to YouTube, I listened to my pastor at Brainerd Baptist Church speak on Colossians 1:24-2:2. 

Colossians and Ephesians (which I used as a basis for the reflections on Lent) have a lot of parallels. In his sermon, Pastor Hill brought out the theme of what drives us. In this text (which starts a little hard to understand, see below*) Paul expresses how his motivation:  

Him we preach, warning every man and teaching every man in all wisdom, that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus.

What would it mean if this were our goal, our "driver": to see the people around us mature in Christ? What would we do, and what would be the outcome?

I divided this "lifestyle" into four section: goal (the Biblical text), motivation (internalized and felt within us) procedures or processes, and outcome, 

I have spent some time in my life in supposed processes--I teach the Bible, lead groups--but I am not sure I had the goal and motivation right. Thus I am not sure what the outcome might be. 

What I mean is, I did the processes and procedures because it was "the right thing to do" and "what was expected of me" but I don't know if my motivation was a sincere desire for the spiritual maturity of others and whether the procedures were enough to make a difference. 

I am indicting myself. I see this subject afresh now. If I am here and blessed with the gifts to fulfill this Biblical goal, my personal motivation should be the other's spiritual maturity. The outcome is in God's hands, though.  

*Paul's statement "I now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up in my flesh what is lacking in the afflictions of Christ, for the sake of His body, which is the church," has always been a problem for me. And others, apparently. Phil Thompson writes on The Gospel Coalition website that in context it means:  "The lack is the gap of sufferings between the present reach of the gospel and the suffering necessary to establish a gospel presence among all the Gentiles, paralleling Jesus’s own mission to bring the gospel to the Jewish people (see the same language of “minister” and “filling/fulfilling” in Rom. 15:8, 16, 19)." 

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