Paul’s Blog?
So many times lately, I have flipped past the book of Colossians and thought, I really need to read that again. Finally, the other day, I did. Actually, I turned to it because this awesome link of a stethoscope quotes a verse from Colossians (at the very end). I was trying to remember where in Colossians, but had turned the computer off already, so I just started with Colossians 1 and kept reading. I was just reading along, listening in my heart as I did. I don’t know where it was that I hit upon the depth of what it was meaning to me, but I did. Suddenly, I could just see Paul, writing out a blog … pouring out his heart to share what he knew of the Lord and his walk with Him. I mean, Paul, the one who was on the road to Damascus, the one who was a Jew through-and-through, he terrorized and persecuted the church, stood by while Stephen was being stoned and even held the robes of those doing the stoning. I wonder, how often did he have to wrestle with his past? Is that why he wrote ‘leave it all behind and pursue the Lord’? He was persecuted, imprisoned, nearly drowned, bitten by a snake, and yet, he knew the power of the Lord.
I’m certain the things I’ve learned about Paul’s life were coupled with my reading the other night, as my heart roamed over the things in my life and I read . . . Paul’s blog. I even went so far as to think God’s blog. I know some would say that it’s all going too far. The point is, God’s Word is so incredibly personal and packed with so very much that is miraculous as it journeys into our hearts and changes us, where we least expect it . . . how we least expect it . . . that it’s simply not expected . . . but that’s Jehovah-God. He gave us His written Word, the Word in the flesh and in our hearts through the Holy Spirit.
When I read, I often use a pointer to force me to read slowly, providing pauses with commas, longer pauses with periods and pauses in between. Something like this:
“For this reason
also,
since the day we heard of it,
we have not ceased to pray for you
and to ask
that you may be filled
with
the knowledge of His will
in all spiritual wisdom
and understanding,
so that
you will walk
in a manner worthy of the Lord,
to please Him
in all respects,
bearing fruit
in every good work
and increasing in
the knowledge of God;
strengthened with all power,
according to His glorious might,
for the attaining of all steadfastness
and
patience;
joyously giving thanks
to the Father,
who has qualified us
to share in the inheritance
of the saints in Light . . .” (Colossians 1:9)
