The Foundation of a Fruitful Life
The Only Path to a Life Well Lived
What does it mean to live a good life?
It is one of the oldest questions human beings have ever asked. The philosophers and thinkers of the ancient world wrestled with it endlessly, and we still wrestle with it today. Some have argued that the answer lies in knowledge and careful thinking. Sir Francis Bacon famously declared that knowledge is power. The classical world gave us the adage that an unexamined life is not worth living. On the other side of the debate, others have argued that ignorance is bliss, that the best life is the one most freely and simply enjoyed without getting tangled up in the big questions.
Most of us, if we are honest, have tried both approaches at different points in our lives. And most of us have found that neither one fully satisfies.
The Apostle Paul, writing to a group of first-century Christians in the ancient city of Colossae, had something far more compelling to offer. In Colossians 1:9-14, he lays out what might be called God's foolproof path to a life well lived. And the heart of it is this: our only hope for living well is fully knowing the Father's will.
A Prayer Rooted in Urgency
Paul had never visited the church at Colossae. His knowledge of them came through a man named Epaphras, a native of the city who had carried the gospel there. The report Epaphras brought back was largely encouraging. These were people who had started the Christian life well, and the evidence of their faith was visible to anyone paying attention.
But there was trouble brewing. Rival teachers had crept in alongside the simple gospel message and were loading people down with elaborate philosophies, strict dietary regimens, and promises of special visionary spiritual experiences. Paul saw through all of it. In Colossians 2:23, he would describe their teachings as promoting self-made religion and severe treatment of the body that accomplished nothing of lasting spiritual value.
What the Colossians needed was not a more sophisticated religious system. They needed a deeper, fuller, more comprehensive knowledge of what God was actually doing in the world through Jesus Christ. That is precisely what Paul prayed for them.
His prayer in verse 9 is striking in its ambition. He does not ask that they receive a little knowledge of God's will. He asks that they be filled with it, that their understanding would come to its fullest possible measure. The Greek word he uses, plerao, carries the sense of being filled up to the brim, completely and comprehensively. Paul wanted nothing less than a total understanding of God's will for these believers.
What "God's Will" Actually Means
It is worth pausing here to clarify what Paul means when he prays for knowledge of God's will. He is not talking about whether someone should change jobs, move to a new city, or make a particular financial decision. He is talking about something far grander: the full cosmic scope of everything God is doing in the world through His Son.
Jesus is the center of human history. All things came into being through Him and exist for Him. He is the image of the invisible God, the one in whom all the fullness of the Godhead was pleased to dwell. He is the head of His body, the church. And one day every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that He is Lord.
When we begin to understand that, something shifts in us. We discover that we are not the center of the universe. We discover that living well is not about maximizing our own comfort, pleasure, or reputation. The good life, as God defines it, is the life that maximizes the worth and beauty and glory of Jesus. Everything else flows from that.
Three Ways Knowing God's Will Changes Everything
Paul goes on to describe three specific ways that a full knowledge of God's will transforms the way we live.
First, it clarifies your purpose. In verses 9 and 10, Paul describes a life that is simultaneously bearing fruit in every good work and growing in the knowledge of God. These two things belong together. Knowing God fuels fruitfulness, and fruitfulness deepens our knowledge of God. One commentator describes it as an upward spiral. The Christian life is not a destination you arrive at. It is a journey of growing deeper in both understanding and obedience.
It is worth noting that there are two ditches to avoid here. One is knowing more about God than you are actually living out. The other is assuming you are living right while neglecting any genuine, growing knowledge of Him. Both are real dangers. The remedy for both is the same: staying rooted in God's word and remaining teachable before Him.
Second, knowing the Father's will empowers your perseverance. In verses 10 and 11, Paul prays that the Colossians would be strengthened with all power according to God's glorious might, so that they might endure with patience. Endurance is what God gives us in apparently impossible situations. Patience is what He gives us with apparently impossible people. We need both, and neither can be manufactured on our own. They come from rooting our lives in the larger story of what God is doing. As Paul writes in Romans 8, the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing to the glory that is yet to be revealed. That perspective changes everything.
Third, and perhaps most beautifully, knowing the Father's will inspires your gratitude. In verses 12 through 14, Paul draws on the imagery of the Exodus, where God rescued His people from slavery in Egypt and brought them into a land of inheritance. He applies that same story to what God has done through Christ. God has rescued us from the domain of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of His Son. He has secured our redemption and forgiven our sins.
When you hold that reality in full view, the only appropriate response is gratitude. The theologian F.F. Bruce put it simply: summarize Christian doctrine and it is all grace; summarize Christian ethics and it is all gratitude.
Living in the Light of What God Has Done
The competing voices of our culture are not so different from the rival teachers troubling the Colossians. They offer us philosophies, self-improvement systems, and promises of a better life built on our own terms. But none of them can deliver what they promise, because none of them are built on the truth of what God has actually done in Christ.
The invitation of Colossians 1 is not complicated. Know God more fully. Let that knowledge bear fruit in your life. Receive His strength to endure. And return to Him in gratitude everything that He deserves.
That is the good life. And it begins with knowing the Father's will.
What does it mean to live a good life?
It is one of the oldest questions human beings have ever asked. The philosophers and thinkers of the ancient world wrestled with it endlessly, and we still wrestle with it today. Some have argued that the answer lies in knowledge and careful thinking. Sir Francis Bacon famously declared that knowledge is power. The classical world gave us the adage that an unexamined life is not worth living. On the other side of the debate, others have argued that ignorance is bliss, that the best life is the one most freely and simply enjoyed without getting tangled up in the big questions.
Most of us, if we are honest, have tried both approaches at different points in our lives. And most of us have found that neither one fully satisfies.
The Apostle Paul, writing to a group of first-century Christians in the ancient city of Colossae, had something far more compelling to offer. In Colossians 1:9-14, he lays out what might be called God's foolproof path to a life well lived. And the heart of it is this: our only hope for living well is fully knowing the Father's will.
A Prayer Rooted in Urgency
Paul had never visited the church at Colossae. His knowledge of them came through a man named Epaphras, a native of the city who had carried the gospel there. The report Epaphras brought back was largely encouraging. These were people who had started the Christian life well, and the evidence of their faith was visible to anyone paying attention.
But there was trouble brewing. Rival teachers had crept in alongside the simple gospel message and were loading people down with elaborate philosophies, strict dietary regimens, and promises of special visionary spiritual experiences. Paul saw through all of it. In Colossians 2:23, he would describe their teachings as promoting self-made religion and severe treatment of the body that accomplished nothing of lasting spiritual value.
What the Colossians needed was not a more sophisticated religious system. They needed a deeper, fuller, more comprehensive knowledge of what God was actually doing in the world through Jesus Christ. That is precisely what Paul prayed for them.
His prayer in verse 9 is striking in its ambition. He does not ask that they receive a little knowledge of God's will. He asks that they be filled with it, that their understanding would come to its fullest possible measure. The Greek word he uses, plerao, carries the sense of being filled up to the brim, completely and comprehensively. Paul wanted nothing less than a total understanding of God's will for these believers.
What "God's Will" Actually Means
It is worth pausing here to clarify what Paul means when he prays for knowledge of God's will. He is not talking about whether someone should change jobs, move to a new city, or make a particular financial decision. He is talking about something far grander: the full cosmic scope of everything God is doing in the world through His Son.
Jesus is the center of human history. All things came into being through Him and exist for Him. He is the image of the invisible God, the one in whom all the fullness of the Godhead was pleased to dwell. He is the head of His body, the church. And one day every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that He is Lord.
When we begin to understand that, something shifts in us. We discover that we are not the center of the universe. We discover that living well is not about maximizing our own comfort, pleasure, or reputation. The good life, as God defines it, is the life that maximizes the worth and beauty and glory of Jesus. Everything else flows from that.
Three Ways Knowing God's Will Changes Everything
Paul goes on to describe three specific ways that a full knowledge of God's will transforms the way we live.
First, it clarifies your purpose. In verses 9 and 10, Paul describes a life that is simultaneously bearing fruit in every good work and growing in the knowledge of God. These two things belong together. Knowing God fuels fruitfulness, and fruitfulness deepens our knowledge of God. One commentator describes it as an upward spiral. The Christian life is not a destination you arrive at. It is a journey of growing deeper in both understanding and obedience.
It is worth noting that there are two ditches to avoid here. One is knowing more about God than you are actually living out. The other is assuming you are living right while neglecting any genuine, growing knowledge of Him. Both are real dangers. The remedy for both is the same: staying rooted in God's word and remaining teachable before Him.
Second, knowing the Father's will empowers your perseverance. In verses 10 and 11, Paul prays that the Colossians would be strengthened with all power according to God's glorious might, so that they might endure with patience. Endurance is what God gives us in apparently impossible situations. Patience is what He gives us with apparently impossible people. We need both, and neither can be manufactured on our own. They come from rooting our lives in the larger story of what God is doing. As Paul writes in Romans 8, the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing to the glory that is yet to be revealed. That perspective changes everything.
Third, and perhaps most beautifully, knowing the Father's will inspires your gratitude. In verses 12 through 14, Paul draws on the imagery of the Exodus, where God rescued His people from slavery in Egypt and brought them into a land of inheritance. He applies that same story to what God has done through Christ. God has rescued us from the domain of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of His Son. He has secured our redemption and forgiven our sins.
When you hold that reality in full view, the only appropriate response is gratitude. The theologian F.F. Bruce put it simply: summarize Christian doctrine and it is all grace; summarize Christian ethics and it is all gratitude.
Living in the Light of What God Has Done
The competing voices of our culture are not so different from the rival teachers troubling the Colossians. They offer us philosophies, self-improvement systems, and promises of a better life built on our own terms. But none of them can deliver what they promise, because none of them are built on the truth of what God has actually done in Christ.
The invitation of Colossians 1 is not complicated. Know God more fully. Let that knowledge bear fruit in your life. Receive His strength to endure. And return to Him in gratitude everything that He deserves.
That is the good life. And it begins with knowing the Father's will.
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