We [Paul and his companions] have not stopped praying for you and asking God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all spiritual wisdom and understanding. And we pray this in order that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, and joyfully giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of light. For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. (Colossians 1:9–14, NIV 1984).
My Musings – God “rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom so that we might “live a life worthy of the Lord and may please him in every way.” That was not a tall order for Him, but it certainly sounds like a tall order for us. For how can we possibly begin to live worthy of redemption and “please him in every way?” By “bearing fruit in every good work, [and] growing in the knowledge of God.” If we are not doing these, we should probably question whether we really do “share in the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of light.” Whether we have “the forgiveness of sins.” Whether we do have anything to “joyfully [give] thanks” for.
My Advice – But if you do have these, we should be “joyfully giving thanks to the Father…[and to] the Son he loves.” “For [He has] redeemed [us]; [He has] summoned [us] by name; [we] are [His].” (Isaiah 43:1, NIV 1984). And one day He might just say to us, “‘well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with [in these] things.” (Matthew 25:21, NIV 1984). Now, that will be something to joyfully give thanks for!
The Brew Is A Musing 