Colossians 1:1-8

Colossians 1:1-8
English Standard Version (ESV)

  Caleb has been hard at work making cookies during Valentine's.  Whenever I walk into the house, I'm overwhelmed by the smell of cookies, and I start salivating.  Cookies have an effect on me.
  In the same way, the Colossians had the hope of heaven in their hearts, and the effect of that was that they acted out their love for all the saints.  The hope within them drove them to serve others. 
  This is how the Gospel spreads.  When people understand the grace of God in truth, it changes their relationships and their lives, and inevitably the love of God flows out into the world through transformed lives and others are invited in.  So the two questions for us:
  1)  How are you opening yourself up to grow in understanding of the Gospel, so that the hope of heaven may root even more deeply in your heart?
  and 2)  how are you interacting with the world in such a way that the grace that lives within you is shared? 
  We are like water wheels.  The Spirit of God is at work, and as it flows through us, it animates us, transformed us and bringing us to life and action.