Colossians 4 - What To Do When God Opens the Door?

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Paul concludes his letter to the Colossians with these final words. 

2 Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful. 

A better translation to the word "devoted" would "be fervent" or "continue earnestly". 

This sort of earnest prayer is important, but does not come easy. Earnestly in prayer speaks of great effort steadily applied. “Heaven’s gate is not to be stormed by one weapon but by many. Spare no arrows, Christian. Watch and see that none of the arms in thy armoury are rusty. Besiege the throne of God with a hundred hands, and look at the promise with a hundred eyes. (Charles Spurgeon)

We don't always link prayer to being watchful. But we pray and then watch for what God is doing in and through our prayer. Prayer is not our working but watching God work. Sometimes God may work in ways that we don't expect or understand, but we know he always hears and answers our prayers. The word is also the word we use for "vigilant" or "wakeful". It is interesting that this is where we get the term "vigil", as in "prayer vigil", which is often prayer kept through the night. 

Finally, we are told to be thankful as we watch and pray. 

“The connection here with thanksgiving may suggest the threefold rhythm: intercession, ‘watching’ for answers to prayer, and thanksgiving when answers appear.” (Wright)

3 And pray for us, too, that God may open a door for our message, so that we may proclaim the mystery of Christ, for which I am in chains. 

Paul asks for prayer as well. He prays for them to pray for the opportunity to share the gospel, which he calls the mystery of Christ. Paul didn't ask for personal prayers, but for a chance to reach with the gospel. 

The term "open door" is a good one. There is a church called, "The Church of the Open Door". The idea is that God opens doors for His work to be done. We may have to knock on that door, but He will be the one to open it for us. We don't know which door God is going to open, but we pray for Him to open it, and for us to recognize it and go through the open door. 

I was a life insurance salesman before I became a pastor. We knew if we made a certain amount of phone calls, we would reach a certain number of people. And from these calls a certain number of people would make an appointment with us. And from this number, a certain amount of them would keep their appointment. And from this number, a certain amount of them would be a true prospect, who might be interested in buying a policy and have the means to pay for it. And from these qualified prospects a certain number of them would buy a policy. 

The only thing we could control was the number of dials we made, and eventually we would get an appointment with the person who would buy. 

If we were this diligent with my praying and knocking on the doors of people who don't know Christ, I wonder if we would not have similar predictable results.  I think what we could say for certain is if I never pray for an open door, or never go through one when God opens it, I will miss out on the joy of leading someone to Christ. 

4 Pray that I may proclaim it clearly, as I should. 

Paul prayed that when the door opened, he would be able to give a clear answer of what he believed about Jesus. The gospel is actually quite simple, but we need to make it our own and share it in a way that is sincere and simple. We don't need to get caught in using big words. 

This is why John 3:16 has become such a well known verse. "For God so loved the world that he gave us His only Son that whoever should believe in him should not perish but have eternal life." 

There is nothing complicated about that! 

5 Be wise in the way you act toward outsiders; make the most of every opportunity.

This goes along with the verse about praying for an open door. Often this open door will come as we encounter people who Paul calls "outsiders". 

The Christian life isn’t only lived in the prayer closet. There also must be practical, lived-out Christianity, which lives wisely toward those who are outside. How we speak has a lot to do with this, so we must let our speech always be with grace. - Guzik

You never know when you might meet someone who you will play a role in leading them to Christ and where you can make a difference for all of eternity. We call this a "divine encounter". 

6 Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone.

Words matter. Words often belie what is going on in our hearts. When we use words carelessly, not only can they hurt others, but they call also hurt our potential witness to others. The word "seasoned with salt" means "witty". Grace and wit are a powerful combination. 

Barclay translates Colossians 4:6 this way: Let your speech always be with gracious charm, seasoned with the salt of wit, so that you will know the right answer to give in every case. He explains: “Here is an interesting injunction. It is all too true that Christianity in the minds of many is connected with a kind of sanctimonious dullness and an outlook in which laughter is almost a heresy… The Christian must commend his message with the charm and the wit which were in Jesus himself.”

Where might you pray that God might open doors for you to share the gospel with grace and wit?