Christ In You, The Hope Of Glory

Today's devotion scripture is from Colossians 1:26, 27 and it says, "...the mystery which has been hidden from the past ages and generations; but has now been manifested to His saints, to whom God willed to make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory."

Looking at these two verses, I began to focus strongly on only two phrases in the second verse and those in the last half of the verse which reads "Christ in you, the hope of glory."

I just finished writing a very lengthy email to a person who is of Jewish heritage and she had a few questions about the Christian church. Being the "wordy" person that I am, I said "absolutely, send me your questions and I will dwell on them."

After she sent them, my thoughts were, "boy, I sure jumped into that one." And I realized that not everyone thinks like I do or like a "Fully Devoted Follower Of Jesus Christ" would think. Her questions, though perplexing, were a great challenge for me and I pray that the word given to me by God went to her heart and she ponders them with strong conviction.

The very last thing I said to her was "If I am wrong about my faith in Christ Jesus, when I die, I have lost nothing. I have been good and moral, loving God and my neighbors. If you are wrong about your lack of faith in Christ when you die, you lose everything for eternity." And I am sincere in that statement. Then I looked at my devotion scripture for today and thought, Wow! God is really lining up my life so that everything has a purpose.

Look at the phrase "Christ in you"! When you communicate with others, do they see Christ in you? Are they thinking to themselves, what can I do to have the peace and joy that he/she has? Or are you just another body in the way of their fight to get to the top of their class? "Christ in you"! I not only want Christ in me, but I want others to see Christ in me! It's a good feeling when someone comes to you and says I am struggling with a spiritual difficulty and I think you can help me. "Christ in you"!

What about the last phrase: "The hope of glory"! When I was explaining to this gal in response to her questions, I realized that according to her religious heritage, she still has no hope in glory. And suddenly it became a "mission" for me to help her understand what it means to have "Christ in you, the hope of glory."

You've heard me say this on numerous occasions that this world is heading for a "crash landing" and it is in "high gear". We are experiencing dangers all around us. Some are losing their careers and others are losing their pensions. Retirement may soon be an obsolete word in America. Paul tells us that Jesus said, in Hebrews 13:5, "I will never desert you, nor will I ever forsake you." Truthfully, that is my retirement plan. That statement alone is all I need to retire on.

Is Christ in you? Do you have hope in His glory? Are you secure in your relationship with Him? One pastor said, "Do you have your ticket to heaven?" Boy, I do! And you know how I know? Because Christ is in me and He is my Hope in glory.

Dave