Take heed to your ministry

And say to Archippus, "Take heed to the ministry which you have received in the Lord, that you may fulfill it." – Colossians 4.17

Another ‘minor player’ of the New Testament is Archippus. I think he is only mentioned here and in Philemon where he is called a ‘fellow soldier.’

I have always like Paul’s word to Archippus though. Not only do I like them, but I am often challenged by them.

Take heed, or pay attention to, the ministry that God had given you.

Fulfil that ministry.

I am regularly challenged by those who simply plod on in their ministries. One of the great examples of a plodder is William Carey who struggled in a slow and apparently unsuccessful ministry before he finally saw visible fruit for his ministry.

But all over the world are Christian workers who are never going to have books written about them. They are never going to be famous and are never going to see great visible success. Sometimes people are just going to spend their lives plodding along.

‘Take heed to the ministry you have and fulfil it.’ Paul knew about sticking with a ministry. At a particularly difficult time in his ministry he wrote, in the midst of his struggles, ‘seeing then we have this ministry we do not faint.’

All God requires of His servants is faithfulness. All we need to do is stay at the task until our task is fulfilled. When our task is fulfilled He will let us know.