The more I read the epistles, the more I am amazed at Paul. He exhibited Christ in his character and in the way he lived. He was a good shepherd in the sense that he cared very deeply about the churches he planted and the ones he did not plant like Colossae (Colossians 1:7). In many of Paul’s letters, he always ensured the churches were encouraged by the word, strengthened in their spirit, and received a messenger from him directly. For Paul to be in prison and the one in need, yet still send one of his companions to a church he was discipling is very telling about the type of person he was. Paul often told his readers to be his imitators (1 Corinthians 11:1), and I often wonder how he could make such a statement but the more I read his letters the more I see why he made such statements; indeed, he himself was imitating Christ.
Every letter that Paul wrote was always very personal. He didn’t just write to an unknown audience even though at times, he had not met the churches he was writing to. The tone was always very intimate and that established the relationship right away. Something that Paul was very concerned about and is repeated in his letters is the church’s understanding of the right doctrine. He often prayed for discernment for the church and ensured they knew the true message of Christ. Unfortunately, it seems, that was often the challenge. In the midst of persecution and strong cultural identity, false teachers would rise and start teaching on endless genealogies which amounted to nothing according to Paul. Unfortunately, many of these teachings would lead many astray and deviate them from the truth. That is why Paul wanted the church whether Ephesians, Colossians, Corinthians, Galatians, etc. to have discernment and understanding, knowing the gospel that was preached to them and sticking to it. He encouraged Timothy to guard the good deposit that was entrusted to him several times. He told the Galatians church how astounding it is that they would forget the gospel of Jesus Christ of which he, Paul had been made a slave. The importance Paul gives to the right understanding of the message of the gospel reminds me of the importance God, through Moses put on knowing the word of God and remembering what the Lord has done for Israel (Deuteronomy 6:7; 11:19).
Indeed, failing to understand the message of the gospel is failing to understand who God is and what He did to reconcile man to Himself. It is failing to understand that salvation belongs to God. You see, in Paul’s time, it was easy for many to think that they were good people and that their goodness made God love them. Similarly, many believed their Jewish ethnicity made God love them by default simply because they belonged to that specific ethnic group. Still for others, it was their good works that made them believe God accepted them. Unfortunately, fast forward two thousand years later, the thinking has not changed much. Yes, even today, we still need to ensure we understand and know the message of the gospel so that we do not take it for granted and we give the honour where honour is due. In his letters, Paul repeated to his audience the gospel of Christ which is that we were enemies of God, dead in our trespasses from our birth, separated from God because of our sin, but God, being rich in mercy sent his one and only Son, Jesus to die in our place so that our sins would be forgiven and new life could be given us. Therefore, Jesus gave us new life through his sacrifice, and we are now new creatures belonging to the kingdom of light no longer the kingdom of darkness. We abide by different rules now, the rules of the Spirit who guides us and teaches us the way of the Father. We are called to live differently because we are different now; we are set apart; we are God’s chosen people.
This new way of life is not something that comes easy, no, as a matter of fact, it is a life of discipline, a life of active work; active training just like the training an athlete must go through to win the prize. We are called to train ourselves to righteous living because our prize is imperishable, it is in heaven (1 Corinthians 9:25). It dawned on me that Christian living is not for the fainthearted, it is a life of constant discipline. It is not a life of rest because our enemy, the devil is never resting; prowling around ready to assault us by getting us to sin. Therefore, we ourselves cannot be found loosening up and playing around like life is a joke. No, brothers and sisters, we are in a battle, a spiritual battle that is, not a battle against flesh and blood so please do not go around hating your brother who disagrees with you or fighting your neighbour who does not like you. The battle is not with the people, it is against the powers of this dark world, and we have the weapons to fight it. The weapons are very unusual: truth, righteousness, gospel of peace, faith, salvation, the word of God and prayer (Ephesians 6:13-18). Yet, they are very effective and at the same time, they allow us to show ourselves to belong to Christ as we imitate Him. I pray we get to be so concerned with Christ’s elevation in our bodies and lives that we make it our priority to wear the amour of Christ everywhere we go. May truth, righteousness, gospel of peace, faith, salvation, the word of God and prayer be our portion as we keep our eyes on the author and perfecter of our faith.
A Word Aptly Spoken 