Greater Than Our Circumstances

Before Paul corrects a single error in Colossae, he gives thanks — because he can see three things in these believers: faith, hope, and love. Jay called them 'the distinguishing characteristics of the saints,' the fingerprints of everyone God has claimed. Not perfect people. Just people in whom God has been at work. So here's the honest question Jay pressed on the church: where is the evidence of God's grace in your life? Look for it. Put your finger on it. A flicker of trust in Christ. A love for people you'd otherwise avoid. A hope that isn't anchored to your circumstances. That's not you being impressive — that's grace leaving marks. Name one mark of grace you can actually see in yourself today, and thank God for it.

Jay said it plainly: 'If we have faith, it's because of God. If we have love for our brothers and sisters, it's because of God. If we have a living hope, it's because of God.' The gospel of grace, he reminded us, is a gospel of gift. That cuts both ways. It frees you from the exhausting project of manufacturing your own faith by trying harder — you don't produce these things, you receive them. And it steals your bragging rights, because you can't take credit for a gift. The Colossians didn't grow the fruit; they 'understood the grace of God in truth,' and the fruit came. So stop white-knuckling. Where you feel thin on faith, hope, or love today, don't strain harder — ask the Giver for more.

This was the line that landed hardest on Sunday. God, Jay said, 'reached into the darkness where you lived and pulled you out when you were His enemy.' Notice who did the moving. You were not searching the dark for a way out — you lived there. God reached in. And look at the verbs: delivered, transferred. Past tense. Done. You have already been rescued from a power you could never escape and carried into the kingdom of His beloved Son. This matters when your circumstances still feel dark, because your address changed the day Christ claimed you, even on the days your feelings haven't caught up. You are not a prisoner hoping for parole. You are a citizen of the light who once lived in the dark — brought out by the hand of God.

Sitting in a Roman jail, what does Paul do for a struggling church? He prays — and listen to what he asks for. Not a bigger budget, not comfort, not an easier road. He asks that they'd be 'filled with the knowledge of His will.' Jay held that prayer up against ours: 'God, I really need this job, this car, this raise, this vacation house.' Then he asked the piercing question from James — why don't we have the knowledge of God? 'Because you don't ask.' We don't have because we don't pray. So borrow Paul's prayer today. Trade one self-centered request for this: 'God, let me see You. Show me my sin. Give me faith — I don't have it. Fill me with the knowledge of Your will.' Then watch what shifts.