As we studied Paul’s letter to the church at Colosse in our recent gospel meeting, more than once I found my gaze falling on this verse: “For though I am absent in the flesh, yet I am with you in spirit, rejoicing to see your good order and the steadfastness of your faith in Christ” (Colossians 2:5). It caused me to consider — given that we had a visiting evangelist laboring among us — whether we as a congregation give our guests reason to rejoice to see our “good order” as an assembly of God’s people, and to witness the steadfastness of our faith in the Lord Jesus.

The single word translated “good order” in the New King James Version is the Greek taxis, meaning “an arrangement; a fixed succession observing a fixed time; due or right order, orderly condition” (Thayer’s Lexicon). It’s the word Luke uses to describe the systematic rotation of the priests who served in the temple (Luke 1:8). The writer of Hebrews uses taxis several times in reference to “the order of Melchizedek” — the nature of the divine priesthood typifying the work of Jesus as our High Priest today (Hebrews 5:6, 10; 6:20; 7:11, 17).

Paul uses the word in 1 Corinthians 14:40: “Let all things be done decently and in order (taxis).” Here, the apostle enjoins the Christians at Corinth to conduct their worship in an orderly manner, without permitting the exercise of the then-existent miraculous gifts to devolve into cacophony. He reminded them, “God is not the author of confusion, but of peace” (1 Corinthians 14:33).

This is the quality for which Paul commended the brethren in Colosse: their “good order.” They conducted themselves in an orderly way. They did not live unruly lives, but rather displayed discipline and focus befitting Christians. Seeing that, the apostle rejoiced.

Christians have a responsibility to seek good order, with God’s word as the guiding blueprint. We should strive for order in our worship (1 Corinthians 14:40). We should maintain order in our labor in the Lord: “Hold fast the pattern of sound words which you have heard from me, in faith and love which are in Christ Jesus” (2 Timothy 1:13). And we should seek order in our individual lives: “This is love, that we walk according to His commandments. This is the commandment, that as you have heard from the beginning, you should walk in it” (2 John 6).

Order isn’t always easy to achieve, as anyone who has ever undertaken a vigorous spring cleaning can attest. Most of us find it simpler to impose order in some areas of our lives than in others. At our house, our DVD collection is a model of immaculate structure — carefully alphabetized and catalogued, with every disc neatly situated in its proper place. On the other hand, my desk and daily workspace always look as though a cyclone just blew through — papers and file folders scattered everywhere, with no semblance of order or arrangement.

Our ongoing challenge is to impose Christ-like order on every aspect of our lives, not just those facets that are easiest to clean up. How many times does the New Testament command us to “walk worthy” (Ephesians 4:1; Colossians 1:10; 1 Thessalonians 2:12)? Doing so requires our putting away worldly actions and attitudes thoroughly and completely: “Let us walk properly, as in the day, not in revelry and drunkenness, not in lewdness and lust, not in strife and envy. But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to fulfill its lusts” (Romans 13:13-14).

I pray that all those who visit the Lord’s church at Penngrove find cause to rejoice at our faithfulness in Christ. Let us so live as to be found in “good order” when our Savior comes.