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Colossians 2:1
1 For [gar] I would [thelo] that ye [humas] knew [eido] what great [helikos] conflict [agon] I have [echo] for [peri] you, [humon] and [kai] for them at [en] Laodicea, [Laodikeia] and [kai] for as many as [hosos] have [horao] not [ou] seen [horao] my [mou] face [prosopon] in [en] the flesh; [sarx] KJV-Interlinear
1 For I want you to know how great a struggle I have on your behalf, and for those who are at Laodicea, and for all those who have not personally seen my face, NASB
The key to this verse is the word for struggle or conflict or agony, ‘agon.’ It refers to the efforts endured by competitors, combatants, contests, struggles, efforts in public games, the toil and conflict required and endured in order to obtain a victory. It refers to the anxious care or mental conflict, the earnest attentiveness which Paul had in their behalf, in view of the dangers that his readers or listeners were exposed to in their daily lives.
Heb. 12:1
12 Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance, and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, NASB
We have surrounding us untold numbers of angelic witnesses, not to mention any human witnesses, that observe our lives from day to day.
Life, in this life, is a contest, with two sides struggling for your attention. It is often said that if you win the minds of the people then you own them. And Satan is a master of propaganda and deception. He doesn’t even have to choreograph the activities of the media, or society, since there are so many people out there who fall all over themselves in doing his bidding, simply because of the lack of truth within them.
On the one hand there is the world, run by the laws of the jungle, following the policies of evil.
On the other hand there is doctrine, run by the laws of Christ, following the policies of truth.
We are all taught through warning and instruction. We covered this concept just the other day. And because of this conflict, there enters into our daily lives, great stresses which make it difficult to advance in our spiritual life, pushing us constantly toward worldly views and philosophies.
Those who are indifferent toward doctrine, unknowingly are caught up in the worlds swift moving current, carrying them further and further away from truth.
Those who try to maintain some semblance of a positive attitude in their spiritual life, discover that there are many obstacles, opinions, views, situations that they have to overcome over and over, day after day, for all of their life. This is the contest for your soul. And what is at stake is you eternal future.
We have never seen Paul, but we read the words he recorded almost 2000 years ago. We have never seen Christ, and yet we look to Him through faith, relying exclusively on faith, in our struggle through this life.
On the side of faith are words written long ago. On the worlds side are the enticements, pressures, stresses, temptations, lures, inducements, incentives, tangible things, instant gratifications, peer pressures and more.
