Paul's purpose in writing this letter to the church at Colosse was to give encouragement to believers who were being pulled away from the true faith. From this letter, we infer that some had reverted back to Judaism or had succumbed to substituting old rituals for life-changing beliefs. We also infer that the Gnostics and others were persuading believers that sin in the earthly realm did not matter since the spirit world was isolated from the physical world. Colosse was a small town, and had missed out on personal instruction from traveling evangelists that larger cities would have received. Paul, imprisoned again, seized the opportunity to write a letter to this congregation that he had yet to meet.

Our temptations may no longer be Jewish ritual and Greek theological philosophy, but our need for encouragement is timeless, and Paul starts that encouragement in his opening greeting. Paul speaks of thanksgiving for them, praising them for their faith in Jesus and their love for each other. He mentions the positive reports that a friend of his brought about their spirit and fellowship.

He also praises them for how they are becoming what God intends them to be, an important characteristic that we often overlook. Paul writes that the truth of the Good News is growing in them and bearing fruit. He prays for their walk in the Lord, and that they would increase in the knowledge of God. Paul fully understands that they have not "arrived", just as Paul elsewhere writes that he was still growing and learning in Christ.

Most of us don't have a problem with admitting that we are not yet perfect. Instead, we struggle to take joy in the process of becoming. Admitting that we have not reached our goal is admitting that we continue to fail, and we get discouraged by how unholy our thoughts and actions often are. I'm fighting with this concept even as I write, because I don't intend to say that sin is acceptable, yet sentence after sentence seems to imply that it is "okay" that I continue to fail. Worse yet, I don't want to admit that you should even expect me to sin, to fall short, to act out in selfishness, anger, pride, or any of the other sinful passions that surge inside me. I don't want to write those words because I don't want to accept that sin is so strongly rooted in me. Just like Paul said, "O wretched man that I am!"

Yet this is true. It is no surprise to God that I still fight against the evil in me, but God also eagerly watches for the signs of growth in me. Just as a gardener watching seedlings, God watches for the acts of patience in situations that once provoked my anger, or the graciousness in my response to a person that I once would have rebuked. We will miss these new shoots of holiness if we are watching only the failures, and we will rob ourselves of joining with God in rejoicing in how we are allowing God to remake more of us.

Nichole Nordeman, a gifted and blessed songwriter and singer, captures this in her song "River God". In her analogy, she compares us to rough stones that are gradually smoothed by the constant flow of God, like a river, washing over us. Her beautiful words capture this struggle:
      "But when I close my eyes, and feel You rushing by,
      I know that time brings change, and change takes time.
      And when the sunset comes, my prayer would be this one:
      That You might pick me up and notice that I am
      Just a little smoother in Your hand."
      Copyright © 1998 Star Song Records

I will never be satisfied with my rough and grainy edges, for I do not want to turn away from the tugging of God's Love that is remaking me into a holy child of God. Just the same, I cannot wear down these imperfections on the strength of my own fickle and fallible will. What I can do is to allow River God to wash over me, and welcome with eagerness the gradual and permanent changes that God is doing in me. I can take joy in the fruit which God has brought from my faith, and I can listen to Paul's words and take greater joy in the abundant fruit that God is still growing. God has so much more spiritual wisdom and grace that will come to me in God's time. God calls us to persevere, to keep allowing God to work, and to take extravagant joy in the blessing that God is still working on us!