"I, Paul, write this greeting in my own hand. Remember my chains. Grace be with you." - Col 4:18

I spoke on Colossians 3:18-4:18 at Leaside Bible Chapel yesterday and thought I would post the end of the message here on the blog. It is based on the last verse of the book of Colossians (4:18; the title of this post). A note in William MacDonald's Bible commentary sparked the idea. Needless, I took poetic license in writing it:

“I, Paul, write this greeting in my own hand.” As Paul ended his letter to the Colossians, the shackles around his wrists clattered. He stopped and looked at them, as he had done so many times before. Then, he raised his pen again. “Remember my chains,” he added – three words to remind the believers of their need to suffer for Christ, and of his need for their prayers. He put his pen down. In the darkness of his prison cell all was quiet. Paul looked at his chains again, and he was reminded of the One for whom he bore them. He thought of his Saviour, and of his Saviour’s suffering: the thorns, the nails, the cross. A tear trickled down his cheek as he remembered how his Lord had shown indescribable mercy to him—Saul, now Paul—on the Damascus road. Then, sitting with his back pressed against the cold prison wall and his face buried in his hands, the man began to weep. ‘Thank you, thank you… thank you,’ he whispered. Joy, thankfulness, a sense of eternity, and sheer love for his Lord welled up within him. Paul lifted his pen one last time. He would end not with his name, nor with the reminder of his chains, but with a word that represented the core of his message, the passion of his life, and the very essence of his God. “Grace,” he wrote. “Grace be with you.”