Mission in the Mundane
“Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving.” Colossians 2:6-7
As we studied Colossians 2 last week in our weekly bible study, I kept thinking about the phrase “walk in him” in verse six. What does it mean to walk in Him daily? The verse explains that we are to be rooted, built up, and established in the faith. Walking in Him requires us to be rooted in God’s word, continually being built up in Him. Our daily study of God’s word will result in us walking in conformity to the wisdom and knowledge of God (Col. 2:3). Being intentional about opening God’s word, reading it, studying it, and meditating on it, will teach us to become dependent on God’s wisdom instead of our own to guide us through our day.
God’s word will become our joy and our reason in those mundane moments of the week. The meal planning, the laundry, the snow shoveling - whatever our day-to-day, neverending tasks may be; these are the “good works that God has prepared in advance” for us to do (Eph. 2:10). We can walk in these mundane moments with joy, giving thanks to God for the good work that He has given us to do.
“Walk in Him” is the first imperative found in Colossians. They have just been given these reminders from Paul:
God has delivered them from the domain of darkness (1:13)
He has transferred them to the kingdom of this beloved Son (1:13)
He is the image of the invisible God (1:15)
By Him, all things were created (1:16)
He is before all things (1:17)
He is holding all things together (1:17)
He is preeminent over all things (1:18)
He has reconciled them (1:22)
Christ is in them (1:27)
Now he tells them what to do with this information - walk in Him. How? By being rooted and built up in God’s word, they may be established in the faith. So that when suffering does come, they are not tossed by the wind (Eph. 4:14), but have a concrete foundation to stand on - complete dependence on the One who holds their days (Matt. 7:24-27).
So I encourage you - as you walk through the tasks of the day - to pray, listen to the word on your phone, or simply give thanks. Verse seven ends with an encouragement to be “abounding in thanksgiving.” It becomes much harder to dread certain tasks of your day when you are “abounding in thanksgiving” while completing them. Give it a try and see how God points your heart back to His mission in the mundane.
Andrea Shustella