Hearing of Your Faith and Love

“We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, because we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love you have for all the saints.” Col 1:3-4 (NIV)

What are people hearing about you? Do they hear about your obsession with hobbies? Do they hear about your addiction to technology? Are they hearing about your misplaced priorities? What if they were hearing about your faith and love?

Paul and Timothy were thankful to God in prayer for the church at Colosse because of their visible faith in Christ Jesus and their love for other believers. The church was bearing the fruit of being connected to Christ. Their love relationship with Jesus was producing in them a deep abiding love for other believers. The vertical faith they had in Christ was being demonstrated through a horizontal love for fellow believers. Their faith was expressed through active love for others.

Take inventory of your faith and love. How’s your faith in Christ? Are you growing in your faith relationship with Christ? Think about your connection to Christ and assess your devotion to His agenda. Are you loving others the way Christ has loved you? Are you serving others the way Christ has served you?

You can’t go horizontal with love until you have gone vertical with faith. Your relationship with Christ will determine your relationship with others. You cannot give what you do not possess. Until you are connected to Christ through an abiding relationship, you will not be able to express His love to others. Make certain of your connection to Christ. Guard your daily intimacy with the Lord. Nurture your relationship with Jesus. Stay connected! Stay close and clean!

Pursuing God,

Stephen Trammell
Executive Pastor
Follow me on twitter at: http://twitter.com/stephentrammell