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. The famous Russian writer, Fyodor Dostoevsky, wrote: “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 had the precise opposite experience. They 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, tragically, 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, who will always be remembered for his outstanding military victories, said: “I thank God I shall be spared from seeing the consummation of ruin that is gathering about us.” And the following year, Benjamin Disraeli, the Conservative politician and Chancellor of the Exchequer, 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 many threats. This means that it is essential 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 that 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

Released on 19 Nov 2022