Grow in Knowledge: Colossians 1:9-14
For this reason also, since the day we heard this, we haven’t stopped praying for you. We are asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding, so that you may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him: bearing fruit in every good work and growing in the knowledge of God, being strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might, so that you may have great endurance and patience, joyfully giving thanks to the Father, who has enabled you to share in the saints’ inheritance in the light. He has rescued us from the domain of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of the Son he loves. In him we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.
Knowing Why
Paul describes the end goal of his prayers at the beginning of his letter. And it just so happens that the end goal is a sweet picture of God’s people growing!
Read through the whole passage. If all of Paul’s prayers are answered, what would the people in Colossae look like? What kind of men and women would they be? What would it be like to be part of their community?
Is there a gap between what you imagine from Paul’s prayers and where you find yourself? …this community? What is the gap, and how do you know it’s there?
(To help, consider what Paul mentions: walking with the Lord; others receiving fruit from you; you seeing growth in yourself; having endurance and patience; having joyful gratitude to the Father; being assured of forgiveness and redemption; etc.)Paint a picture to fuel your own prayers. How would you or this community look different in certain places, certain relationships, certain situations, and certain habits? Be specific!
Knowing How (…and Who!)
In order to grow in that direction, Paul says we have to grow in knowledge, wisdom, and understanding.
…but of what? What should we know better, be wiser in, or understand more about?
How does that require us knowing not just “a bunch of what’s”, but rather a bigger, better Who? And what’s the difference? How can you not just know more about God by the end of the year, but know God better by the end of the year?
What often discourages or dissuades you from doing that? Why?
How might the “bunch of what’s” (redeemed, forgiven, adopted, etc.) and the “bigger, better Who” (the One who does the enabling, rescuing, transferring, etc.) remove any inner obstacles you have?
What external obstacles (logistics, resources, plans, etc.) do you need that you can ask for? (myvillagechurch.com/follow has some resources!)
Also, notice how the end goal isn’t to finish growing, knowing, or doing. It’s to be growing, walking, and working. Pay attention which things are “done deals” in the passage and which keep on going. Does this change the way you think about growing this year?