Devotional: Colossians  3:18-4:1

Reflection

  • (Col 3:18 ESV) Wives, submit to your husbands, as is fitting in the Lord.
  • (Col 3:19 ESV) Husbands, love your wives, and do not be harsh with them.
  • (Col 3:20 ESV) Children, obey your parents in everything, for this pleases the Lord.
  • (Col 3:21 ESV) Fathers, do not provoke your children, lest they become discouraged.
  • (Col 3:22 ESV) Bondservants, obey in everything those who are your earthly masters, not by way of eye-service, as people-pleasers, but with sincerity of heart, fearing the Lord.
  • (Col 3:23 ESV) Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men,
  • (Col 3:24 ESV) knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ.
  • (Col 3:25 ESV) For the wrongdoer will be paid back for the wrong he has done, and there is no partiality.
  • (Col 4:1 ESV) Masters, treat your bondservants justly and fairly, knowing that you also have a Master in heaven.

Discussion

Life is not easy.  No matter the life stage or the place we are, we can count on one thing: there will be challenges.  If not outside the home, inside the home.  If not with external forces, we battle with our own internal problems.  This section of Colossians is wisdom to guide every layer of relationships we have.  Inside the home, God has principles for leadership and obedience for our families.  Outside the home, God still orders how we should carry on lives that are pleasing to Him.  In a summary statement,  Romans 14:8 makes a quick takeaway we can commit to memory:

  • (Rom 14:8 ESV) For if we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord. So then, whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord’s.

Connection

What do you find most challenging about your role in the home?

 

What do you find most challenging about your role in school or the workplace?

 

What can this passage of scripture remind you in the greater context of this chapter of your life?

 

Expansion

Mankind

God created mankind in His own image with two genders: male and female designed to compliment each in a monogamous marriage unit.  At creation the first man and woman were sinless and tasked with tending God’s creation.  While Adam and Eve were created to glorify God, they disobeyed launching themselves and all of mankind after them into sinfulness and separation from God.  Because of our fallen nature, all of mankind is damned to hell and unable to justify themselves before God without the grace of God providing redemption of their souls through faith in Christ alone.

Genesis 1:27-28, Genesis 2:7, Colossians 1:16, Deuteronomy 6:5, Isaiah 43:6-7, 1 Corinthians 10:31, Matthew 5:16, Genesis 3:1-8, Psalm 51:5, Isaiah 6:5, Romans 3:9-23, Romans 5:12, Ephesians 2:1-3, Romans 5:18, 1 Corinthians 15:22