From Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by God’s will, and Timothy our brother. ² To the holy and faithful brothers and sisters in Christ in Colossae.  Grace and peace to you from God our Father. ³ We always give thanks to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you. ⁴ We’ve done this since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and your love for all God’s people. ⁵ You have this faith and love because of the hope reserved for you in heaven. You previously heard about this hope through the true message, the good news, ⁶ which has come to you. This message has been bearing fruit and growing among you since the day you heard and truly understood God’s grace, in the same way that it is bearing fruit and growing in the whole world. ⁷ You learned it from Epaphras, who is the fellow slave we love and Christ’s faithful minister for your sake. ⁸ He informed us of your love in the Spirit. ⁹ Because of this, since the day we heard about you, we haven’t stopped praying for you and asking for you to be filled with the knowledge of God’s will, with all wisdom and spiritual understanding. ¹⁰ We’re praying this so that you can live lives that are worthy of the Lord and pleasing to him in every way: by producing fruit in every good work and growing in the knowledge of God; ¹¹ by being strengthened through his glorious might so that you endure everything and have patience; ¹² and by giving thanks with joy to the Father. He made it so you could take part in the inheritance, in light granted to God’s holy people. ¹³ He rescued us from the control of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of the Son he loves. ¹⁴ He set us free through the Son and forgave our sins.

My favorite Southern Gospel singer was Kenny Hinson.  Kenny penned a lyric that said: “I first heard about Jesus, sitting on mama’s knee.”  What a gift!  To have godly parents who are more concerned about your salvation than your performance on the rec team, more concerned about your relationship with the Living God than with the possibility of winning the next beauty contest.  I thought about that when I read Paul’s comments to the church at Colossae and how they had receive the word of God from Epaphras.  Imagine the faithful testimony of this servant of God!  Imagine what a gift that was to the people of Colossae!  Imagine what an encouragement that was to Paul and to other Christians around the empire who heard the story of what God was doing in Colossae!

Where did you first hear about the greatest gift ever given, Jesus Christ?  Is that person still alive?  Is that ministry still functioning?  Have you taken the time to say ‘Thank You,’ to demonstrate your appreciation?  It is God who has abundantly provided for us the wonderful opportunity to hear and respond to the Gospel.  It is God who set us free from the law of sin and death and forgave us.  It is God who shown His light upon us and continues to shine His light through us into the darkness of our world.   I don’t know where I first heard about Jesus, but I remember the Word of God that came to me through Mildred McDonald, my grandma; TAMcDonald, Jr., my granddaddy; my friends, especially Rodney, Thad, Dennis, and Craig; and the pastors, professors, district superintendents, and bishops I’ve had alone the way.   And I thank God for His abundant provision!