Colossian 2:5 - With You in Spirit (Devotions)
I ran into a friend of mine yesterday--one of our doctors--and we were talking about the challenges of working with patients during these times when people have to be isolated in hospitals and nursing homes, and even healthy people are in lockdown! This verse came up in our conversation and we agreed it is as relevant now as when Paul wrote:
Colossians 2:5 (NASB95) "For even though I am absent in body, nevertheless I am with you in spirit, rejoicing to see your good discipline and the stability of your faith in Christ."
Being separated from friends and loved ones can be difficult. They might be on the other side of the world; they may be on the other side of a wall. Perhaps we're separated because we're confined to a bed or to a room. Perhaps we're just at work. Yet we wonder how family and friends are doing. We're concerned for them and their well being. We want to be with them, and they want to be with us. Maybe we anticipate seeing them in a few hours, maybe it will be days... weeks... months... even years.
Would you believe that Paul wrote this verse to people he'd never even met? Yet, as he described it, they were "knit together by the strong ties of love" in Jesus Christ (verse 2, New Living Translation). Though not physically with them, he was there in heart: happy to see that their faith in Christ wasn't shaken.
"For even though I am absent in body, nevertheless I am with you in spirit, rejoicing to see your good discipline and the stability of your faith in Christ."
Blest be the tie that binds
Our hearts in Christian love
The fellowship of kindred minds
Is like to that above
When we asunder part
It gives us inward pain;
But we shall still
Be joined in heart,
And hope to meet again. -John Fawcett, 1772
Father in heaven,
May our faith in Christ remain strong. We pray for those we love, that their faith would remain strong, too. So that in Him, even when we are separated in body, we would be united in spirit... for our joy, and for Your glory. Amen.
Colossians 2:5 (NASB95) "For even though I am absent in body, nevertheless I am with you in spirit, rejoicing to see your good discipline and the stability of your faith in Christ."
Being separated from friends and loved ones can be difficult. They might be on the other side of the world; they may be on the other side of a wall. Perhaps we're separated because we're confined to a bed or to a room. Perhaps we're just at work. Yet we wonder how family and friends are doing. We're concerned for them and their well being. We want to be with them, and they want to be with us. Maybe we anticipate seeing them in a few hours, maybe it will be days... weeks... months... even years.
Would you believe that Paul wrote this verse to people he'd never even met? Yet, as he described it, they were "knit together by the strong ties of love" in Jesus Christ (verse 2, New Living Translation). Though not physically with them, he was there in heart: happy to see that their faith in Christ wasn't shaken.
"For even though I am absent in body, nevertheless I am with you in spirit, rejoicing to see your good discipline and the stability of your faith in Christ."
Blest be the tie that binds
Our hearts in Christian love
The fellowship of kindred minds
Is like to that above
When we asunder part
It gives us inward pain;
But we shall still
Be joined in heart,
And hope to meet again. -John Fawcett, 1772
Father in heaven,
May our faith in Christ remain strong. We pray for those we love, that their faith would remain strong, too. So that in Him, even when we are separated in body, we would be united in spirit... for our joy, and for Your glory. Amen.
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