“For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we 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,” (Col 1:9-10).
The whole aim of the Christian life is to please God by living a life worthy of the Lord. The Bible tells us that, “… the disciples were first called Christians in Antioch.” (Acts 11:26). Those around the early disciples saw the life of Christ in them. They saw the likeness of Jesus in His disciples as they interacted with society around them. The disciples lived so much like Christ that the pagan world around addressed them as Christians. How we live matters to God, because He placed us on earth to accomplish His purpose. The Bible says, “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.” (Eph 2:10). It is clear that an important purpose of our redemption in Christ is to enable us do the good works which God prepared in advance for us. God has special assignments for each of us to fulfill within a lifetime. Like David, whom the Bible says served God’s purpose in his own generation, and then fell asleep (Acts 13:36 NIV), God expects the same thing of us.
However, you can only live a life worthy of the Lord by the Holy Spirit. This is the reason why our main scriptural text above portrays Paul as praying relentlessly for the Colossian brethren, and asking God to fill them with the knowledge of His will, through all spiritual wisdom and understanding. There is a world of difference between intellectual knowledge and spiritual knowledge. The former is a product of information, while the latter is the result of revelation that originates from the Holy Spirit. That was why Jesus said, “It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life.” (Jn 6:63). Jesus did not speak just to inform, but to transform.
Notice how Paul and his fellow ministers prayed continously and fervently for the the Colossian Christians. Colossians 1:3-4 tells us it is “…because we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love you have for all the saints–.” Paul knew that the fact that the Colossians had become born again, did not mean they would automatically live in a way that was worthy of the Lord. They needed not just to know God’s will, but to know it through all spiritual wisdom and understanding, if they would live a life worthy of the Lord. Paul’s recourse to such prayer must have been informed by his knowledge that only God can reveal Himself and His will to anyone. Men may inform you of God’s will, but only God can reveal it to you, and there is a vast difference between the two.
Therefore, it is a wise choice to seek God by prayer and meditation for the revelation of His will. God’s timeless prescription for knowing His will is, “‘Call to Me, and I will answer you, and show you great and mighty things, which you do not know’” (Jer 33:3). Eloquent and persuasive words of human wisdom will not avail much, as Apostle Paul observed: “And my speech and my preaching were not with persuasive words of human wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, that your faith should not be in the wisdom of men but in the power of God” (1Cor 2:4-5). Like Paul, we need to be wary of the misconception that we are capable of effectively communicating God’s will to people in such a way as to produce revelation in them, without the active participation of the Holy Spirit. Spiritual wisdom and understanding are the exclusive preserve of the Holy Spirit to impart. Therefore, let us pray relentlessly to God to fill us and our brethren with the knowledge of His will through all spiritual wisdom and understanding. The result will be that we will live a life worthy of the Lord and please Him in every way, as we become increasingly fruitful in every good work and also grow in knowing God. Shalom.
