Like lots of people, I struggle to get enough exercise. So I recently got something to motivate myself to move: a pedometer that counts steps. Its a simple thing. But its amazing how much difference this gadget makes in my motivation. Instead of grumbling when I have to get off the couch, I see it as an opportunity to get a few more steps. Mundane tasks, like getting one of my kids a cup of water, become opportunities that help me work toward a larger goal. In that sense, my pedometer has changed my perspective and my motivation. Now I look to get extra steps in whenever possible.
I wonder if our Christian life isnt a bit like that. There are opportunities to love and serve and interact with people every day, as Paul exhorts in Colossians 4:5. But am I always aware of those moments? Am I paying attention to opportunities to be an encourager in seemingly mundane interactions? God is at work in the lives of every person I relate to, from my family and coworkers to a clerk at the grocery store. Each interaction offers a chance for me to pay attention to what God might be doingeven if its something as seemingly small as kindly asking a server at a restaurant how shes doing.
Who knows how God might work in those moments when were alert to the opportunities He sends our way.
INSIGHT
Pauls normal pattern for writing letters to churches is well evidenced in this epistle to the Colossians. That pattern calls for the first half of the book to be primarily theological in nature, with the remainder providing practical application of that doctrinal teaching. The first two chapters of Colossians describe the relationship between Christ, the head of the church; and the church, the body of Christ. Chapters 34 then give the practical outworking of those realities. In todays Scripture reading, we find clear counsel on how to live and function as the church body. This includes the need for intercessory prayer (vv. 23) and the importance of personal testimony, which includes graciously using the opportunities God gives us (vv. 56). This is wise counsel that is still needed today.