[Sung Psalm:112]
How does hope relate to faith and love?
Hope is not some vague wish.
We often speak as though it is. We say, "I hope it doesn't rain today," when we are afraid that it might. I once heard a preacher say that faith is not simply a matter of hope. Plainly he was not thinking of Paul's concept of hope!
For the believer, Hope is something that is absolutely certain. Our hope is as certain as our justification by Faith. You can have all the love in the world, but if it is not rooted in faith, it cannot please God. You can have all the hope in the world, but if your hope is in the wrong gods, it will not please God!
But here in Colossians, Paul and Timothy tell us that Hope is the foundation, because without the Hope that is laid up in heaven, why should we believe? Without the promise that Christ is ours, and we are his forever, why should we love?
As Paul puts it in I Cor. 15 - if it is only for this life that we have hope in Christ, we are the most miserable of men.
And it is this hope–in Christ–that produces fruit in us, through the word of truth - the gospel... |
