Paul said he continually asked God to fill the Colossians with the knowledge of His will by way of the Spirit’s wisdom and understanding. What does the Spirit tell us to do?

I teach public speaking, and each semester I review with my students what we should do to be good speakers — to be ethical speakers. What I teach lines up with Paul’s prayer, and is so different from the world’s wisdom.

Secular wisdom says: If your goal is noble, then you can say anything you want in order to achieve it.
Say whatever the local culture says is relatively okay to say. Only do what you are willing to let everyone else do. Say what brings the greatest good to the greatest number of people.

To these I add one by St. Augustine, “Love God, and do whatever you please.” This catches students off guard. It sounds like a license to live a double life. However, Augustine made this point when preaching on 1 John 4:4-12, where John calls us to love, because love is of God, and because God first loved us. Augustine’s full quotation was, “Love God and do whatever you please: for the soul trained in love to God will do nothing to offend the One who is Beloved.”

Isn’t that beautiful? The person trained to love God will not do anything that offends God. So His will for us? Love Him! May I suggest you tell Him so right now?

Dear God, thank you for the wisdom of your Spirit that tells us your will for our lives. How simple, yet profound, that the answer is to love you, for “in doing so we will keep your commandments and love others” (John 14:15). Bless you, my Beloved! Amen.

Go Deeper — As you go through your day, take an honest tally of the things you are doing for yourself and the things you are doing out of gratitude for God’s love for you. How often are they the same thing?



Tags: Life in the Spirit Colossians 1
Photo Credit: Patrick Hendry