Colossians 1
Rebecca Lightfoot
The “level” of HOPE we have waxes and wanes a lot.As it does,our mood changes;our attitudes change;the way we think changes;the way we treat people changes;the way we make decisions changes;...;so much of who & what we are tends to change as our hope meter changes.In the 1st chapter of Colossians,we are given a ginormous clue as to why this is...&what we can do about it!Even though Paul is getting ready to address a couple major issues in the people’s lives,there was something IN their lives that impressed Paul a lot->Colossians1:3-6,”We always thank God, the Father of our LORD Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, because we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love you have for all God's people- the faith and love that spring from the hope stored up for you in heaven and about which you have already heard in the true message of the gospel that has come to you...”Their faith and the way they loved on God’s children are what made the apostle Paul “always thank God”,because their faith somehow never failed to encourage Paul and those that were traveling with him.Something IN the lives of the Colossians made them different from others...so different in a GOOD way that IT directly encouraged Paul!The initial attribute of this “thing” that Paul noticed in The Colossians was that it was consistent&persistent,even through the challenges that Paul knew the people were having->Paul says “....always...”....and the foundational “thing” IN their life was their “faith in Christ Jesus”,which somehow compelled them to treat others with love!In order for this to happen in the lives of the Colossians as regularly as it must’ve,the Colossians must’ve had a fairly consistent/persistent “mood/attitude” enabling them to consistently/persistently treat others w love/out of love.Even when we have the same faith as the Colossians,we may not have found the same “spring” that they had in their lives/the source of their consistency/persistency!What we HOPE in and what we place our HOPE on...determines what kind of mood/attitude we have moment by moment.When our hope is based on things that can fade/rust/be stolen/not be trusted/be unstable,or are ultimately insignificant....our attitude/mood will wax and wane and be tossed about,to and fro as the book of James talks about(James 1:6-8).When we allow ourselves to be tossed about like this...we loose mood/attitude stability...& we begin to loose stability in our faith,& we begin to treat people in inconsistent ways(sometimes loving them;sometimes ignoring them;sometimes empathizing;sometimes oblivious;etc.).There was a HOPE (providing mood/attitude stability) in the Colossians that was unique...they had their HOPE springing up/coming up from an eternal hope founded in Christ Jesus(“....that spring from the hope stored up for you in heaven and about which you have already heard in the true message of the gospel that has come to you...”).Their Hope was not in things that can fade/rust/be stolen/not be trusted/be unstable,or are ultimately insignificant..,but their hope was in treasures stored up in Heaven(Matthew6:21).The only thing in life that is sound enough/solid enough to place our hope in is the eternal promises that God makes,& guarantees through Christ Jesus.This is what made the Colossians so different.Not that they were perfect nor more “religious” than others! Not that they had the most successful economy! What made them so strikingly different for GOOD was what they placed their hope in/on! They placed their hope in/on Christ and His promises, & His Word!Dear Lord-my mood and attitude change so much...because I am establishing hopes based on things that are not eternally solid.Help me to have my life shaped to know and understand and appreciate the true and everlasting values of Your promises and Your Word.May these become what my life find as the springs of HOPE for my life!