5-30-19 Today in the Word

Living in Christ
FINAL GREETING
Thursday, May 30, 2019 | Colossians 4:18

Hungarian painter Elmyr de Hory has become famous for painting high-quality forgeries. Over the course of his career, he forged works of Picasso, Matisse, Degas, and Modigliani. Around 1,000 of his forged paintings were sold to large art galleries all over the world. Once he was found out, his forgeries became appreciated as works of art in their own right. They now sell for over $20,000 apiece. Ironically, there are now con artists producing fake de Hory forgeries!
As was the common custom in those days, Paul used a scribe to write his letter to the Colossian church. A professional scribe would have neater handwriting and would conserve the costly papyrus the letter was written on. To show that the letter was authentic, Paul added a final greeting in his own hand, as he did for his other letters (see 1 Cor. 16:21; Gal. 6:11; 2 Thess. 3:17).
Paul’s final command to the church is poignant: “remember my chains” (v. 18). This abrupt sentence functions in two ways. As one commentator put it, Paul’s wanted to “hold up his manacled wrists to impress the readers with his authority as a suffering apostle.” This graphic image of Paul’s willingness to suffer imprisonment for the sake of the gospel was a measure of his commitment. More important though was his desire for the church to pray for him. Just as he had labored in prayer for the church, he was asking the same of them in return. In this way, they would support one another.
Paul’s final note is one of blessing, “Grace be with you.” In one sense, the entire letter has been about grace, the grace that God has shown to us through the work of Christ.
APPLY THE WORD
Paul’s experience of being in chains for the gospel is not unique in the history of the church. Thousands of brothers and sisters in Christ around the world suffer the same fate today. Remember these dear believers in prayer. You can pray for the persecuted church with information from such ministries as Voice of the Martyrs.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

9-16-23 Santa Staleness

Santa Staleness :: By Edwin Tan Published on: December 24, 2022 by RR10 Category:General Articles My one and only trip to Israel had more than a profound effect on my present-day psyche. It might have been three decades ago, but there is more than a lingering aftertaste. It happened smack in the last fortnight of the year. Surprisingly absent were the familiar sights and sounds of the Christmas most people are accustomed to. Hardly any Christmas decorations in downtown Tel Aviv, if not any of the shopping thoroughfares across the Holy Land. Hanukah was a breath of fresh air – not anything resembling a Christmas carol most people grew up with did surface. The Christmas Eve service in a small Protestant church not far away from Jerusalem’s Old City was awesome; songs that truly celebrated the virgin birth of our Lord, which though seemingly unheard of, were a welcome inspiration to many a soul. There was even one sung in Arabic! So it began, my overt disdain for the secular Christmas t...
Read more

9-25-23 The Farm Chronicles: One Christmas

The Farm Chronicles: One Christmas :: By Bill Wilson Published on: December 24, 2022 by RR10 Category:Bill Wilson, General Articles There are a lot of terrible things going on right now in the world. But we are at the time of the year when we, as Christians, celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ. We can choose to be impacted by the world around us in its dimly lit arena, or we can choose to let our light so shine. I choose the latter. I want to tell you a little about the Christmas that I had growing up on our family farm in Ohio. I was blessed to be born into a horse and cattle farm that has been in our family for some 200 years. And Christmas, especially Christmas Eve, was a wonderful time for our family. December 24 was my Dad’s birthday. And my Dad was well-loved by his neighbors and friends, so we had a lot going on Christmas Eve. I remember one special Christmas Eve. I must have been about four years old. The night was falling, and the wind and snow were whipping across the barny...
Read more

9-15-23 Miracles 2

Miracles 2 :: By Jim Towers Published on: December 21, 2022 by RR10 Category:General Articles This story is a continuation of the exciting things God continues doing in my life. I was supposed to have died a while back, and sometimes I feel as though I may do so soon. But since I’m ready to meet my maker, I have no fear of death. In fact, my evangelistic zeal has only increased, especially as I see the fast approaching of the “Tribulation period” mentioned in the book of Revelation. Insofar as my acting career is concerned, I just finished filming a soliloquy featuring Melchior, one of the three Magi who followed the star to Christ lying in the manger, and am preparing to portray a Jewish Priest on stage. Like I said, God is working overtime in my life, and I will be appearing on stage singing Broadway show tunes sometime in March, so I have a lot of rehearsing to do. In the meantime, I will be signing Christmas carols acapella at a park here in Naples. Since it is a spontaneous th...
Read more