Love compelled labor

Paul's desciption of service to God

Colossians 1:29
" To this end I labor struggling with all his energy which so powerfully works in me. "

" The word labor means to work to the point of exhaustion, while from the greek word translated struggling comes our word agonize. So for Paul to serve God was ' to agonize to the point of exhaustion.' That doesn't mean it was miserable toil in fact the reason Paul worked so hard was because the only thing he loved more than serving God was God himself. God supplies us with power to serve Him. We struggle in service ' with all His energy, which so powerfully works ' in us. " p. 126

'Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian life' by Donald Whitney