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… We have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love you have for all the saints — the faith and love that spring from the hope that is stored up for you in heaven and that you have already heard about in the word of truth …
Colossians 1 v4,5 (NIV)
Anyone who knows me will tell you that I get a bit muddled sometimes. I think the reason might a simple lack of brain. But the other day I realised that for years I’d been getting this passage totally backwards. That’s quite amazing even for me.
Let me explain. I’ve been a Christian for several years now, and to be blunt I know where I’m going when I die. I’ve basically always trusted that God’s got that sorted out. That’s not to say I never doubt it though. When things get sticky, when I feel down or afraid, when I’m not such a good neighbour, when God just doesn’t seem real — then my hope in my destiny starts to go wonky. That’s why when I read this passage I got a bit of a shock.
Paul speaks of faith, love, and hope, familiar concepts to most of us. Hope, in this sense, is not an expectation but a knowledge of the glory of things to come. Paul was sure of his destiny, and we should be too. For as he wrote, faith and love spring from the hope of heaven, they don’t give rise to it. Our eternal destiny is not called into question if we fail to love, or if our faith seems weak. As long as we have accepted Christ into our lives we are saved, and we know where our lives are going. Everything else should spring from that.
Trying to live my life whilst often unsure of my own destiny was like pushing a piece of string. Now I know that it’s firmly pegged in the kingdom of heaven, and I can begin to put my life more and more in the hands of the Lord Jesus in the knowledge that he won’t let me down.
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Last modified: 25th November 2005