Colossians 4:10-11

Colossians 4:10-11

Aristarchus, my fellow prisoner, greets you all as well as Mark, the cousin of Barnabas – regarding whom you all received a command.  If he should come to you all, receive him.  Also Jesus greets you, the one who is being called Justus.  The ones who are out of circumcision, these ones only are fellow workers in the kingdom of God who became a comfort to me.

Thoughts for Today

First Thought:

The next man among Paul’s company that we meet is Aristarchus.  We know that he was from Greece and he went with Paul to Jerusalem where Paul was arrested.  Aristarchus was present in the riot in Ephesus and was himself arrested in Paul’s stead.  He voluntarily came on the journey to take Paul to Rome.  Some even suggest that in order to make the journey with Paul that he voluntarily endured into becoming Paul’s personal slave so that he could accompany Paul.  {There is no Biblical justification for such a position.}  Here is what we know about Aristarchus.  Whenever Paul is in trouble and needs a friend, Aristarchus is the man who is there for him.  Aristarchus is a true friend.

What does a true friend look like to you?  Have you ever had a friend like Aristarchus in your life?

Second Thought:

Next on the list of things to be mentioned is Mark.  This is, of course, the same John Mark who abandoned the ministry of Paul and Barnabas on their first missionary journey.  This is the same man who caused an argument between Paul and Barnabas and caused them to separate.  What is really neat about this verse is that passage illustrates forgiveness.  Paul had every right to neither trust Mark nor forgive him nor even make provision for him.  But Paul has done all of these things with Mark.  This is a great lesson for us to realize that we should not force mistakes to become everlasting grudges.

What grudges are you carrying that could become burdens to the forgiveness process?  How do you go about forgiving big mistakes that leave lasting emotional scars? 

Third Thought:

Finally, we have Justus.  We actually don’t know anything about Justus except that his name is mentioned.  But that is not important.  What we know is that he was among the men who travelled with Paul who became a comfort to Him.  In fact, he was a former Jew, because he was of the circumcision.  What’s really neat her in this passage is that Justus changed his name from Jesus.  Could it be that Justus didn’t feel that it was right to share a name with the Son of God?  Perhaps.  But I think it is far more likely that Justus has changed his name from a Jewish name to a Latin name.  It could be that this would help Justus be trusted in the Christian community because there was so much persecution and rejection from the Jews.  Or it could be so that he would be more readily accepted by the regular citizens of the Roman Empire.  In any case, the only thing that we really know about this man is that he is a man who considered his name – His identity – less significant than the ministry that he was called to perform.

Have you ever been considered untrustworthy because of your background or the culture out of which you come?  How do you overcome people’s initial perceptions of you when they are false?

Passage for Tomorrow: Colossians 4:12-14