Colossians 1:4-5

We have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and your love for all of God’s people, which come from your confident hope of what God has reserved for you in heaven.

Having hope is incredibly important. Dostoevsky, the famous writer, said: “To live without hope is to cease to live. Hell is hopelessness.” Above the entrance to Dante’s hell was the inscription: “Leave behind all hope, you who enter here.” The Colossian church were so confident of the future that God had for them that they were full of hope, and that inspired both their faith in Christ and their love for their Christian brothers and sisters. It was like an engine inside them producing nothing but blessing.

Human life is often characterised by hopelessness. In 1850, Bishop Wilberforce said: “I dare not marry for the future is so dark and unsettled.” In 1851, the Duke of Wellington said: “I thank God I shall be spared from seeing the consummation of ruin that is gathering about us.” And, the following year, the Conservative politician Benjamin Disraeli commented: “In every department of our nation, industry, commerce and agriculture, there is no hope.” If you looked for similar statements of despair today, they wouldn’t be hard to find.

Human life is always distorted by fear, sin and threats. This means it is essential that we deliberately focus our attention on the hope that God has given us in Christ. God doesn’t call us to run away from the harsh realities of this world, but he does encourage us to keep focused on the hope we have which will never be taken away from us. It is absolutely secure.

Question

What impact does your Christian hope have on the way you live?

Prayer

Lord God, I thank you for the hope that you have given me, which is like an anchor for my life. Amen