In the gospel of Mark, the Pharisees tell Jesus that his disciples are breaking the law of the “sabbath”, the day of rest.  In answering them, Jesus teaches that the sabbath was “made for man not man for the sabbath.”  It was a liberation from our toils and a freedom to rest in God’s care.

Colossians is one of the last letters Paul ever wrote before his execution in Rome.  God provided him the strength, despite those circumstances, to write an astonishingly powerful letter to the church in Colossae.