Colossians 1:25-29 – “Of this church I was made a minister according to the stewardship from God bestowed on me for your benefit, that I might fully carry out the preaching of the word of God, 26 that is, the mystery which has been hidden from the past ages and generations; but has now been manifested to His saints, 27 to whom God willed to make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. 28 And we proclaim Him, admonishing every man and teaching every man with all wisdom, that we may present every man complete in Christ.”  NASB

Hope is a commodity vitally essential in seeing the Big Picture of what God has for us and for navigating the difficult waters of life.  In considering the subject of Hope we must ultimately arrive at what the Bible calls “The Hope of Glory.”  A much better way to say that would be, “Christ in us, the Hope of Glory.”

In our text passage, the apostle Paul identifies the essence of his ministry.  He was saying, “This is what I do.”  Paul was traveling around the world teaching people about Jesus.  His goal, aim, and vision was to prepare every person to reach a state of completeness, perfection, and wholeness.  The essence and content of what he was teaching was the mystery of “Christ in you, the Hope of Glory.” 

What does, “Christ in you, the Hope of Glory” mean?  To discover that we must define “Hope.”  In today’s world, “hope” has a bad reputation.  In some circles, if you say, “hope,” you are deemed to be expressing a lack of faith.  But the word fills the New Testament.  That leads me to believe that we have frequently misused the word.  The world’s use of the word has absolutely nothing to do with the Bible word – Hope!

What is Hope?  One little boy defined saying, “Hope is believing that you are going to get that, which anyone in their right mind knows you are not going to get.”  That, for many people, is Hope.  That is how the world views the word.  When many say that they are hoping they are saying they believe it highly unlikely that they will ever realize what they are hoping for.  For many, it borders on impossible and to the far too many it means they are clinging to a thin thread when all rational expectancy is gone.

I’ve gone into hospital rooms and heard people say, “We can only Hope.”  What they meant was they did not believe there was any rational expectancy left.  That means that Hope has in it a sense of desperation and disappointment. 

Let me illustrate it by asking you to go back to your high school days.  How many of the dizzy dreams and visions you developed have already been shattered and shelved?  How many are completely gone?  What about marriage?  Many enter marriage with the little bluebirds of love and happiness circling in their minds.  Then just a few years down the road they scrap the whole thing and their perfect marriage ends in divorce. What they hoped for is gone.

Hope, as understood by the world and much of the church has a built-in disappointment, because people do not believe it is going to happen.  They are like the little boy and are “believing that they’ll get something that anyone in their right mind knows they’ll never get.”  That’s human hope and it is terrible.

However, that is not what the Bible means by Hope.  The Bible Hope is not only not hopeless it is completely other than that view.  Hope in the Bible means – “That positive unshakable confidence that a specific blessing from God will come to pass.”  That is totally other than the world’s view of Hope.  The Bible view says, “I know with unshakable confidence and certainty that the specific thing that God has said will come to pass.”  Therefore, Hope in the Bible view has a built-in Certainty Factor in it.  The world’s hope has inherent in it, disappointment, and the Bible’s view of hope has a built-in certainty.

Philippians 1:20 in the Amplified says, “My own eager desire, persistent expectation, and hope.”  That’s it!  It is the Eager Desire!  It is declaring, “What God says, I want it!  I expect it, no matter the bleakness of the situation!  I Expect and am determined to Persist!  I know it is going to Happen because God says it and I HOPE!”

I want to continue this but will pause here and say – HOPE is not a lack of Faith but in the Bible, it is a brother of Faith. 

God bless you as you enjoy this wonderful day in Jesus!