“My fellow prisoner Aristarchus sends you his greetings, as does Mark, the cousin of Barnabas. (You have received instructions about him; if he comes to you, welcome him.) Jesus, who is called Justus, also sends greetings. These are the only Jews among my fellow workers for the kingdom of God, and they have proved a comfort to me. Epaphras, who is one of you and a servant of Christ Jesus, sends greetings. He is always wrestling in prayer for you, that you may stand firm in all the will of God, mature and fully assured. I vouch for him that he is working hard for you and for those at Laodicea and Hierapolis. “Our dear friend Luke, the doctor, and Demas send greetings. Give my greetings to the brothers at Laodicea, and to Nympha and the church in her house” (Colossians 4:10-15)

I must admit, each time I come to the end of one of Pauls letters, reading through the long laundry list of who’s who in his ministry, my brain tends to check out. I’m sure we are all like this, after all the people are only mentioned once or twice and their names are very difficult to pronounce. So why are they even important to us today?

As I ponder over these names of countless individuals that helped and ministered with the Apostle Paul these phrases stand out, "they have proved a comfort to me,” "is one of you," "a servant of Christ Jesus," "wrestling in prayer for you," "he is working hard for you." These are among the few attributes that Paul gives them, they obviously come very highly recommended and deserve a moment for us to ponder as well. 

“Tychicus will tell you all the news about me. He is a dear brother, a faithful minister and fellow servant in the Lord. I am sending him to you for the express purpose that you may know about our circumstances and that he may encourage your hearts. He is coming with Onesimus, our faithful and dear brother, who is one of you. They will tell you everything that is happening here” (Colossians 4:7-9)

Even though it appears that Apostle Paul never visited the church in Colossae (Col. 2:1); they were very dear to him. He learned about their faith and love through Epaphras (Col. 1:7) and several who traveled with Paul were from this area (Col. 4:9, 12). Because they were so dear, he sent Tychicus to them to encourage and inform them of everything happening.