steadfastly so when rains or storms arise we don’t run and hide like children but we stand mature in His faith.
Paul said: “Therefore if you have been raised up with Christ, keep seeking the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth. For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our life, is revealed, then you also will be revealed with Him in glory” (Colossians 3:1-4). And in the same Book: “He has now reconciled you in His fleshly body through death, in order to present you before Him holy and blameless and beyond reproach—if indeed you continue in the faith firmly established and steadfast, and not moved away from the hope of the gospel that you have heard, which was proclaimed in all creation under heaven, and of which I, Paul, was made a minister” (Colossians 1:22-23).
We always seem to want to move off what we have heard. In Paul’s day he battled ministers who would come into the church (or in our case into our thoughts) with various religious doctrines contrary to the true gospel. Many presented religious rituals such as circumcision, diets etc. which, they said, had to be performed if you were to be made perfect. Paul said: “If you have died with Christ to the elementary principles of the world, why, as if you were living in the world, do you submit yourself to decrees, such as, “Do not handle, do not taste, do not touch!” (Which all refer to things destined to perish with use?)—in accordance with the commandments and teachings of men? These are matters which have, to be sure, the appearance of wisdom in self-made religion and self-abasement and severe treatment of the body, but are of no value against fleshly indulgence” (Colossians 2:20-23). `
Paul is forced here to reassure the Colossians of their freedom in Christ; free from legalism and rituals. Entry to His Kingdom is by faith, not by works so that man could boast and say “I did it”. Christ has already done it for you yet many believers still think they have to do works to earn salvation. If you are in His rest (Hebrews 4:1-16) then you need to no other works in order to gain favor with God.
Christ’s is a spiritual kingdom. It is not of this earth. : “Jesus answered [to Pilate], “My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world, then My servants would be fighting so that I would not be handed over to the Jews; but as it is, My kingdom is not of this realm” (John 18:36).
Do we need our faith reassured? Christ called the disciples “oh ye of little faith”. Christ has commanded no boundaries on our faith. The disciples asked Christ why they couldn’t cast out a demon from a man. Jesus responded: “Because of the littleness of your faith; for truly I say to you, if you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move; and nothing will be impossible to you” (Matthew 17:20). We can have unlimited faith even if it seems to be a small amount in our estimation.
The point of this article is that we carry this unbelief with us, in our lives. This is a hindrance to our walks with God. Unbelief in Christ is the most deadly of sins. When we say unbelief we are not speaking of not believing that we are saved and are going to heaven. The faith we are speaking about is the active miracle faith that can only come from God. Paul was absolutely convinced of the validity of his faith. “For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:38-39). Likewise we do not need to have our faith constantly reassured. We are convinced of our faith which leaves no room for unbelief.
The Second Golden Grace
1 Corinthians 13:13 says: “But now faith, hope, love, abide these three; but the greatest of these is love”. As believers we seem to be more familiar with faith and love but do not realize the power that hope can have in our lives. Actually these so called “Three Golden Graces” are levels we attain as we walk with God. We first come into a level of faith, then hope and finally the perfect level of love, the love of the Father completely manifest in our lives.
Hope in Greek is ἐλπίς [elpis /el•pece/]. From a primary root elpo (to anticipate, usually with pleasure) there are 54 occurrences. The AV (KJV) translates the word as “hope” 53 times, and “faith” once. Hope is an expectation, a joyful and confident expectation of eternal salvation, the thing hoped for. Hope is closely related to trust [ἐλπίζω [elpizo /el•pid•zo/] and is translated trust 32 occurrences. It means to “wait for salvation with joy and full confidence”.
In Hebrew the word is תִּקְוָה, תִּקְוָה [tiqvah /tik•vaw/] translated as “hope” 23 times, “expectation” seven times, “the thing that I long for” once, and “expected” once; also hope, expectation, ground of hope, things hoped for and outcome or manifestation.
Hope is a virtue wrought in us by God that very few people speak about, nor do they sense the importance of. Yet great things can happen in your life through the hope that God generates within you. An example of hope is found in Romans Chapter 8: “And not only this, but also we ourselves, having the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting eagerly [hope] for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our body. For in hope we have been saved, but hope that is seen is not hope; for who hopes for what he already sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, with perseverance we wait eagerly for it” (v. 8:23-25).
Boiled down to its essentials hope is expectation. It differs from faith in the following respects. Faith in the Greek language is: πίστις [pistis /pis•tis defined as a conviction of the truth of anything or belief; the belief in a conviction or belief respecting man’s relationship to God and divine things, generally with the included idea of trust and holy fervor born of faith and joined with it. The conviction that God exists and is the creator and ruler of all things, the provider and bestower of eternal salvation through Christ. A strong and welcome conviction or belief that Jesus is the Messiah, through whom we obtain eternal salvation in the kingdom of God. Belief with the predominate idea of trust (or confidence) whether in God or in Christ, springing from faith in the same and fidelity and faithfulness, the character of one who can be relied on.
Contrasting hope and faith, the Bible says: “Now faith is the assurance [substance] of things hoped [expected] for, the conviction [evidence] of things not seen. For by it the men of old gained approval. By faith we understand that the worlds [ages, epochs] were prepared by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things which are visible” (Hebrews 11:1-3). Faith is the first step in a walk with God. By faith, and our confession, we receive Jesus into our lives even though we cannot see Him. But Hebrews 11 goes on to point out the limitations of faith as it relates to the big picture. Hebrews 11:4-37 speaks of all the great men of faith and all the things they did and accomplished. However in Hebrews 11:39-40 the writer says: “And all these, having gained approval through their faith, did not receive what was promised, because God had provided something better for us, so that apart from us they would not be made perfect”. Although these great men of faith saw the promise at a distance, and embraced it by faith, they did not receive the promise that was reserved for us who walk under the New Covenant of Christ. So you could say their faith did not in and of itself produce fulfillment.
Hope goes one step further in that it not only has faith but it has an expectation that we will see it, in the here and now. The Dictionary definition of hope includes: “to cherish a desire with anticipation, to desire with expectation of obtainment, to expect with confidence, desire accompanied by expectation of or belief in fulfillment also expectation of fulfillment or success” (Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary, 11th Ed.). Hope is an unadulterated cry for the fulfillment of a thing that has been seen, sometimes afar off, by our faith.
Isaiah describes hope: “Indeed, while following the way of Your judgments, O LORD, We have waited for You eagerly; Your name, even Your memory, is the desire of our souls. At night my soul longs for You, Indeed, my spirit within me seeks You diligently;”