Colossians 1:9-10

⁹For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you and asking God to fill you with the knowledge of hHis will through all spiritual wisdom and understanding. ¹⁰And we pray this in order that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please Him in every way:

Right off the bat here, we learn a very important truth. Paul has just pointed out several spiritual works that God has begun in the Colossians, all of which he learned from Epaphras, and his immediate response is not relief or even excitement, but prayer. Spiritual works seen in others are to serve as motivations for prayer. We often see disasters and distresses as motivators for prayer, but we more often than not forget to pray for continued benevolences when times are good. When Paul sees God at work, it’s prayer time. Why? Because Paul knows that prayer is the instrument God has ordained through which to bless His people.

Paul sums up his prayer section by asking God to fill the Colossians with knowledge (Ephesians 1:17; Philippians 1:9-10) through all spiritual wisdom and understanding. He requests for them the maximum – the fullness – both in terms of the nature of the knowledge (true practical truth as opposed to speculative falsehood) and their capacity to contain and grasp it (for natural man cannot comprehend spiritual things (1 Corinthians 2:14)). Some will say that since “knowledge puffs up, but love builds up” (1 Corinthians 8:1), we ought to cease to pursue knowledge. But that is clearly incorrect. Other will say that God is incomprehensible, so we shouldn’t bother with pursuing knowledge. But God is not incomprehensible (He certainly comprehends Himself); rather we find Him incomprehensible in our current stance. That’s why Paul asks God to fill believers with knowledge (of Him and His will). We just talked about the importance of the “knowledge” aspect of the gospel, and in v10, Paul gives the reason for its importance: that you may live a life worthy of God and please Him in every way. You can’t do that without Biblical knowledge, and you won’t want to do those things without Biblical knowledge; practical Biblical knowledge and wisdom ought to lead to a righteous life, worthy of and pleasing to God. That makes perfect sense. Only when you know the truth can you purposefully do the truth and live by it.

Living a life worthy of God (Ephesians 4:1; Philippians 1:27; 1 Thessalonians 2:12) and pleasing Him (Romans 8:8; 1 Thessalonians 2:4, 4:1; Hebrews 11:6) in every way is a daunting thought. Paul gives four insights to this concept in v10-12, and we'll look at them, starting next week.