Good morning people who live life for Jesus while in a time of difficulty.

Colossians 4:7-8 NIV Tychicus will tell you all the news about me. He is a dear brother, a faithful minister and fellow servant in the Lord. I am sending him to you for the express purpose that you may know about our circumstances and that he may encourage your hearts.

I love what I see in these verses!

Paul was sending Tychicus to the church in Colossae so that they could hear how Paul was doing and so that he may encourage their hearts.

Just think about this.

Paul was in prison and doing it tough in many ways. Yet he instructs Tychicus to focus on encouraging the hearts of others. Isn’t this just like Jesus with us too.

As I meditate on this, I am aware that we always have the power of our confession about what we are going through. We also have the power to just focus on ourselves or to continue to encourage others, even while still in our own prison.

All of these verses by Paul are challenging – I will agree with you there. I don’t want to be one-dimensional and make it all sound easy. It is not.

But nor was it for Paul. His pain was real. His suffering was intense.

But it was not his greatest focus. It did not steal all of his attention. God remained at the centre. God’s purpose and redemptive plan for the world remained Paul’s passion and pursuit.

I have so much to learn from Paul.

May this be the testimony of our lives too.