Scripture repeatedly exhorts us to labor for the Lord, to do the work of the Lord. If we truly are going to “labor” in the full meaning of that word, we are going to need focus and power.
Paul speaks about his labor for the LORD in Colossians 1. He begins with a grand discourse on the supremacy of Christ. At the very end, in the last two verses, Paul first reveals the focus of His labor. “We proclaim him [Christ], admonishing and teaching everyone with all wisdom, so that we may present everyone perfect in Christ.” [1:28]
The focus of our labor is to proclaim Christ, to admonish, to teach with wisdom, so that all the redeemed may be perfected in Him. It’s that simple, and that complicated.
To proclaim Christ, we must know Him. To admonish and to teach with wisdom, we must know His words, His ways. To know Him requires time spent with Him in prayer, in meditation, in conversation. To know His words and His ways mean we study, we listen, we cooperate with His Spirit, we share with each other the wisdom of the Gospel of God. Our aim is that all of us, each of us, become perfect in Christ. Perfect means we become complete in Christ.
But where does the power come from to do that? “To this end I labor, struggling with all his [Christ’s] energy, which so powerfully works in me.” [1:29]
God has ordained the focus of our labor and God has ordained the source of power for our labor. We cannot in our own strength do the work of the Lord. Since the Lord’s work is a God-ordained work, the power must also be a God-ordained power. The struggle is ours certainly, but the struggle is NOT because the power is insufficient (it cannot be insufficient it is His power!), the struggle comes because we must learn to flow in His power.