For I want you to know how great a struggle I have on your behalf and for those who are at Laodicea, and for all those who have not personally seen my face,   that their hearts may be encouraged, having been knit together in love, and attaining to all the wealth that comes from the full assurance of understanding, resulting in a true knowledge of God’s mystery, that is, Christ Himself,   in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.

Paul begins this second chapter in Colossians by letting his spiritual children in the faith know about a great struggle that he has for them. But it’s more like the kind of struggle one has in order to accomplish a specified goal. What was Paul’s overall goal for these Colossian believers? It was simply this – that they would fulfill Christ’s Great Commandment. We are all familiar with it – to love God and to love neighbor. At the very heart of this “great” commandment is God’s command – to love.

But that word ‘command’ can be somewhat misleading and even confusing. Ordering someone to love…is that even possible? Love must be a free choice, not an obligation or command. It’s been called the Great Commandment, but perhaps, a better way to approach what Jesus Himself called the very heart of all Scripture is – The Great Directive OR The Great Instruction. Those don’t sound so mandatory. What’s interesting is that the Hebrew word for ‘Torah’ (Old Testament is written in Hebrew) is mostly translated as – Law. And laws are meant to be obeyed. They are not suggestive or subjective, but are objective commands to be followed. Yet, ‘Torah’ is more than just God’s Law. Allow me to use a ‘sports’ analogy. This is rather appropriate, with the Super Bowl just around the corner.

Torah is God’s Playbook for each of us who play on His team. Christ is our Coach and it is His Father who owns the team. The Coach draws up the plays. He also trains and prepares each player and when it’s game time, He puts each player in the position that He has prepared for him to play. The player’s responsibility is to consistently study the Coach’s playbook so that he may understand it and allow himself to be prepared to play in the game according to the play that the Coach draws up.

Does the Coach at times command His players? Yes, he can and many times, He will. But as the players become more familiar with the Coach, they realize how He is the mastermind behind their winning season. And as they experience victory after victory (no matter how difficult and experienced their opposition may be), their confidence in their Coach grows. As their confidence in their coach grows, so does a confidence in their abilities to play the way they have been trained and prepared to play – The Coach’s Way.

As more victories come, this confidence, admiration, respect, and even ‘love’ for the Coach also grows. But in order to be a successful team, all the players must have (or, learn to acquire) this mindset – Coach knows best! Follow Him! Get to know His playbook so that you can fully follow His way. We, too, must allow our Coach to prepare us to play the positions He has designated for each of us to play. We must also allow Him and His other coaches to prepare us to play the way they direct, guide, and discipline us to play. And one more very important directive – we must play together (as a team)! This is The Coach’s Way. And this way always leads to victory.

Back to Paul…and his struggle. He, like an assistant coach, shares with The Coach’s team how he wants so much for their hearts to personally be encouraged. He then shares how he wants so much for their encouraged hearts to be collectively knitted together – as a team. When these take place, then both The Coach’s vision and a collective confidence (a full assurance) is adopted by the whole team. How does all of this take place? Each player commits himself to “understand” The Coach’s playbook (Bible) and to “accept” The Coach’s vision – following His playbook His way will, without a doubt, always lead them to victory. Go Pats!