Read Colossians 3:18 – 4:6
18 Wives, submit yourselves to your husbands, as is fitting in the Lord.19 Husbands, love your wives and don’t be bitter toward them. 20 Children, obey your parents in everything, for this pleases the Lord. 21 Fathers, do not exasperate your children, so that they won’t become discouraged. 22 Slaves, obey your human masters in everything. Don’t work only while being watched, as people-pleasers, but work wholeheartedly, fearing the Lord. 23 Whatever you do, do it from the heart, as something done for the Lord and not for people, 24 knowing that you will receive the reward of an inheritance from the Lord. You serve the Lord Christ. 25 For the wrongdoer will be paid back for whatever wrong he has done, and there is no favoritism.
1 Masters, deal with your slaves justly and fairly, since you know that you too have a Master in heaven.
2 Devote yourselves to prayer; stay alert in it with thanksgiving. 3 At the same time, pray also for us that God may open a door to us for the word, to speak the mystery of Christ, for which I am in chains, 4 so that I may make it known as I should. 5 Act wisely toward outsiders, making the most of the time. 6 Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you should answer each person.
Reflect
- In verse 24, Paul says “you are serving the Lord, Christ.” What do you think this means? What does it look like to serve the Lord in our daily lives? In our work? In our homes? In the church?
- Would you describe yourself as “watchful in prayer”? How can we grow in this area? Thinking back to the supremacy of Christ in chapter one, why is prayer so important in the life of a Christian?
Prayer
- The greatest burden on your heart.
- One person who does not know Jesus Christ.
- God’s continued favor on our church as we move forward in 2019 and beyond.
- That you would know and love God more at the end of 2019 than ever before.