24 I am glad when I suffer for you in my body, for I am participating in the sufferings of Christ that continue for his body, the church. 25 God has given me the responsibility of serving his church by proclaiming his entire message to you. 26 This message was kept secret for centuries and generations past, but now it has been revealed to God’s people. 27 For God wanted them to know that the riches and glory of Christ are for you Gentiles, too. And this is the secret: Christ lives in you. This gives you assurance of sharing his glory. 28 So we tell others about Christ, warning everyone and teaching everyone with all the wisdom God has given us. We want to present them to God, perfect in their relationship to Christ. 29 That’s why I work and struggle so hard, depending on Christ’s mighty power that works within me. (Colossians 1:24-28)
God has given Paul the responsibility to proclaim a message that was kept secret for centuries but now has been revealed. The message of Jesus Christ, who died for us and lives in us. This message may still be a secret to many people around us. People may not have heard the story of Jesus Christ and the life changing story of His followers. That is why God has also given us wisdom to proclaim this message to people around us. He has given us the opportunity to share His story, as well as ours. Paul has worked very hard to proclaim the message. How about you? Do you allow opportunities to easily slipped away from your daily chores? I do. A lot of times. I work very hard in so many areas of my life, definitely not in proclaiming the message of Jesus Christ. I love Him, but unfortunately, I enjoy doing other things as well. Following Jesus Christ requires sacrifice, sacrificing our time and sacrificing our true self. Proclaiming the message of Jesus Christ may not be something in us and we may not be able to do it naturally. As we need to put effort to do it, we are reluctant to do it. The reluctance will never be reduced or go away until we take a step to actually do it. The more the experience we have, the more comfortable we are. Let us take a step to sacrifice our true self, by doing something that is not in us, but we are still doing it because of Jesus Christ.
“God has given me the responsibility of serving his church by proclaiming his entire message to you.”
