Colossians 1:3–10 (NRSV): 3 In our prayers for you we always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, 4 for we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love that you have for all the saints, 5 because of the hope laid up for you in heaven. You have heard of this hope before in the word of the truth, the gospel 6 that has come to you. Just as it is bearing fruit and growing in the whole world, so it has been bearing fruit among yourselves from the day you heard it and truly comprehended the grace of God. 7 This you learned from Epaphras, our beloved fellow servant. He is a faithful minister of Christ on your behalf, 8 and he has made known to us your love in the Spirit. 9 For this reason, since the day we heard it, we have not ceased praying for you and asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of God’s will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, 10 so that you may lead lives worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him, as you bear fruit in every good work and as you grow in the knowledge of God.

Paul is writing to the Colossians Christians encouraging them and thanking God for the work of the gospel led by Paul’s protege Epaphras (v.7). What I find interesting in this passage is v.9 which I highlighted in bold.

If you read Paul’s letters it becomes pretty clear that he is a systematic thinker. Paul builds his arguments with layers of logic to support his main teaching points. If there are “head” people and “heart” people Paul is clearly the former. Look at his description in v.9 of that which he hopes will grow among the Colossians: “knowledge”, “wisdom”, “understanding”. This is head stuff.

By contrast, when reading the gospel of John he describes himself as “the one whom Jesus loved”, and the “beloved”. Or reading the psalms written by King David in the Old Testament it is his love for God that really shines through, which is why he was known as one “after God’s own heart”.

Most of us have both head and heart dimensions to our personalities, but will often lean more toward one than the other. I would say I’m by nature more of a heart person, though I have great respect for the more heady dimensions of faith. I’m grateful to find both kinds throughout scripture. In this way no one is left out.

How would you describe yourself? Assuming you too have both head and heart dimensions to your personality, which do you lean more toward? Heavenly Father I thank for the diversity of persons you have created. And thank you for being a God who speaks to all kinds, especially within the pages of scripture. I pray this in Jesus’ name. Amen.