Daily Devotional

I have taken lots of evaluations over the years that purport to tell my personality type, my strengths and my giftedness. It does not always seem to come out the same.

But what is often at the top for me is independence. I think I know stuff. I talk like it, I am told. Another conclusion came from the Men in Action assessment of giftedness, which put prophecy as my highest gift. It makes me good at speaking truth (in love) to people I am ministering to, in a knowledgeable and impacting way.

But all this can go bad, too. Just ask Lynn! Part of me always wants to move to Auberry or Oakhurst, find a modest, out of the way place and just kind of withdraw. But that is finally not me. I cannot fulfill my calling in Christ that way. I am a pastor. I am called to write on human hearts (2 Cor. 3:3). I am at my best when it is personal, face to face, with a dynamic work of the Holy Spirit in both wisdom and knowledge.

Paul wrote to the Colossians about this kind of truth. He tells of his struggle and his hope.

"For I want you to know how great a struggle I have for you and for those at Laodicea
and for all who have not seen me face to face, that their hearts may be encouraged,
being knit together in love, to reach all the riches of full assurance of understanding
and the knowledge of God's mystery, which is Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge." Colossians 2:1-3, ESV

He wanted the Colossian church and the Laodicean church to reach all the riches of their salvation – full assurance of understanding and the knowledge of God’s mystery, which is Christ.

But this is not something that can finally be had in an independent way, only drawing away and getting close to God (much as I would like it to be!). That is necessary, too. It cannot be done by a “prophet” who secludes himself, whether in a library or a wilderness. Then who comes crashing into a group, gives a prophetic word and races off, as sometimes described in the Old Testament (2 Kings 9:1-10).

In Paul’s struggle for good things for these churches, for them to reach the riches offered in Christ, he expresses that it is going to finally come because these people are “knit together in love.” (Verse 2)

There is a lot we can do on our own. But we cannot finally mine the treasures of wisdom and knowledge hidden in Christ that way! No. To get all the way there, we will need other believers. We will need, in fact, a kind of spiritual intimacy and transparency with other believers. There is no other way. So all of us are urged to join a growth group, attend a Sunday school class, have an accountability partner, or be involved in some other venue of real love and oneness.

Why? Because we are not complete on our own. It is like Israel when they returned from Babylon. To get their society renewed, they had to get the temple built and a system of sacrifices and feast days back in motion (Ezra 3). This society could not make it as a bunch of independent descendants of Abraham, equipped with the Law and their history. They needed each other!

God made it so then, and He makes it so now. There are a lot of struggles in the church. Why are so many still bound up in their besetting sins, in habits, obsessions, addictions, unforgiveness and even idolatry? Perhaps because they have tried to hide it, and deal with it on their own.

But the opposite is needed. We must find a place to confess our sins to one another and pray for one another (James 5:13-19). We must find a group to be transparent with, even brutally honest with! It must become our habit to go to these people groups in our needs. To share. To be counseled. To be prayed for. To be delivered. To still be loved, even respected the more for it.

In addition, we all need such a place to exercise our spiritual gifts, even as I do with my prophetic bent, with my calling to write on human hearts in the Spirit. But it takes more than one like me. Many other gifts are needed. People like me, when I am in need, need others with gifts I do not have.

We can all “reach all the riches” which are in Christ. But we can only fully do that when our hearts are “knit together in love” with other believers in a regular and intimate way. No one will accomplish it alone. No marriage will make it alone. If we are to accomplish the kingdom, it will happen because we subject ourselves to one another in truth and in love. No secrets. No private struggles hidden away in shame or fear.

Do you have such a people to be with? Do you have a willing heart? The hidden treasure of God’s mystery, of wisdom and understanding in Christ, will be ours in abundance as we pursue it hand in hand with caring and gifted brothers and sisters in Christ.

Go then, and reach for all the riches in Him in this way!

Read: Colossians (the entire book), Ezra 3.
Sing: The Family of God, by Gloria & Wm. J. Gaither

"English Standard Version (ESV)
The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Text Edition: 2016. Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers."