Winning the War against Hope

Every inhabitant on planet Earth is trying to survive a war against hope.  Attacks occur on many battle fronts as Satan, the unbelieving world, and our own sinful, fear-filled nature sow despair rather than hope. Although the war is as old as the ages, the conflict intensified in 2020, didn’t it?  And it won’t disappear just because the calendar flips to 2021.  

Where can people find hope? 

Writing to the Colossians Paul says his message was a “mystery that has been kept hidden for ages and generations, but is now disclosed to the Lord’s people” (Col. 1:26 NIV)  Today, for many people the Good News of the Bible is still a mystery, a riddle that befuddles, puzzle pieces unassembled.

If you tried to summarize the Good News of the Bible in a slogan brief enough for a bumper sticker, how would you express it?  In Colossians 1:27 Paul condenses the Gospel-mystery in this phrase: “Christ in you, the hope of glory.”

Would we ever have summed up the Good News as Paul expresses it?  In fact, do we even understand what he means?  Or is “Christ in you, the hope of glory” a mystery to us too?

Some will propose: “Paul means that after believers in Christ die, eternal life will be glorious.”  Indeed, life in heaven will be the supreme culmination of our hope.  However, Paul is speaking about the present as much as about the future.  The hope God offers us for every day of 2020 and every second of 2021 and beyond, is this mystery-riddle-puzzle: “Christ in you, the hope of glory.”  If you already grasp it’s meaning, wonderful! 

If you don’t get it, here’s a suggestion. As you read Bible verses like the three below, dwell on the significance of the italicized word.

• “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me.”  Gal. 2:20
• “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.”  John 15:5
• Perhaps the most surprising use of “in” occurs when Jesus prays: “I, Jesus, have made the Father known to my disciples, and will continue to make the Father known, so that the love the Father has for me may be in every disciple and that I myself may be in them.”  John 17:26 (paraphrased)

Just as drivers need to see motorcycles, start seeing the little word “in” whenever Scripture uses it this way. Based on such promises, ask God every morning, “Father, show me how Christ being in me, and in my Christian brothers and sisters, provides us the hope of glory both today, so that we may use it to win the war against hope.”