Colossians 4:2-6

Colossians 4:2-6

The short passage addresses what may be the most difficult part of being a disciple, the initial contact and leading a person to become a new believer. Verses 2 and 3 address the issue of prayer. Verses 5 and 6 talked about social interaction. But verse 4 serves as the heart of this passage. In short, this passage sums up this way: “Pray so that we can make clear the gospel and that our social behavior will support that message.”

Prayer is hard; it may be the hardest aspect of the Christian life. Devotion to prayer or steadfastness in prayer is no accident. Our tendency is to slip into heartless or mindless repetitions or to be distracted and have our mind wandering off. We can parrot the words without engaging the mind or the soul. Focused prayer is not easy. Like long-distance running, we accomplish it by doing it for an intense, if short, time every day and by adding to it each day. It never happens by chance; it is always by choice. The focus of this prayer is almost completely absent in the prayers of the modern church: the opportunity to proclaim the gospel. Look at any church’s prayer list, and it is almost exclusively a litany of prayer requests for blessings, particularly related to health. Certainly we should pray for the sick, but what about the lost? Paul wanted the church to pray for opportunities to speak the gospel, this message that is so compelling. Perhaps we don't pray for those opportunities because we fail to find the gospel message particularly compelling.

Paul, in verse 4, wants to know how to speak. The words “make it clear” come from the Greek word from which we get the English word phantom. It meant ‘the shining manifestation of something that was there all along.’ This is a passionate desire to know how to speak the gospel. If Paul needed guidance in this, we ought not find it unusual that we also struggle. If Paul requested prayer for this, we ought to also pray for this.

At a very practical level, we need to be ‘winsome people.’ Most people do not understand even in the slightest way the gospel message. Their opinions of Christians are frequently negative. While we can't hide our faith, we must not express it in a bad-mannered way. Politeness, the art of constantly showing people that they are important, is, or ought to be, our baseline for interaction with people. Being harsh, superior, or judgmental will not accomplish very much. We need to operate with three base assumptions: number one, intentional engagement; number two, the apex of courtesy; and number three, a faithful presentation.

“Lord, forgive me for the weakness of my prayers.  AMEN”