#DailyDevotion Christ In You, The Hope Of Glory

Col 1:25-29  of which I became a minister according to the stewardship from God that was given to me for you, to make the word of God fully known,  (26)  the mystery hidden for ages and generations but now revealed to his saints.  (27)  To them God chose to make known how great among the Gentiles are the riches of the glory of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.  (28)  Him we proclaim, warning everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom, that we may present everyone mature in Christ.  (29)  For this I toil, struggling with all his energy that he powerfully works within me.

God had given Paul a stewardship of the word. Indeed all called ministers of the word through the Church share in this stewardship. It is to proclaim the mystery of Christ and make it that word more fully known. This mystery was in plain sight in the Old Testament yet it was hidden in plain site. We who have received the Holy Spirit look at and think well of course that passage is talking about Jesus, but to those who haven’t received the Holy Spirit it is still hidden. We are called to point it out and through that message create new hearts, minds and souls who see it also through the Holy Spirit.

Now Paul has chosen to reveal this mystery to you, how great among the Gentiles are the riches of the glory of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. It was once clear that the children of Abraham, those who he had covenanted with on Sinai were to receive this glory and this inheritance to be the saints of God. Yet the Lord intended to join to himself the Gentiles also through the preaching of the word he had given to the Jews. The Lord had told Abraham that through his seed all nations would be blessed. He had spoken through the prophet Isaiah it was too small a thing to redeem just the Israelites, he would redeem the nations as well. Jesus had told the apostles to go to all the nations proclaiming the good news. The Lord Jesus Christ intended to and accomplished the salvation of everything and everyone upon the cross.

Now what are the riches of the glory of this mystery? Christ in you, the hope of glory. The hope of glory is that Jesus comes and takes residence in your heart. Indeed not only Christ, but the Father and the Holy Spirit as well. You have been called to be a participant in the life of the Holy Trinity through faith in Christ Jesus. When you were baptized, you received the Holy Spirit and faith. You became a temple of God. You are one with Christ, you in Christ and Christ in you. Jesus is one with the Father and the Holy Spirit. In Christ, you are not one with them and them one with you. Their life has now become your life. Even now, in Christ, you are seated in the heavenly places where Jesus is seated at the right hand of the Father.

This was Jesus’ prayer in the garden, Joh 17:20-23  “I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word,  (21)  that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me.  (22)  The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one,  (23)  I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me.”

This glory we may not see yet, but we believe we have received it through faith. It is a eternal weight glory we are being prepared to receive through our present sufferings. It calls us to participate in the divine nature through these promises of forgiveness, redemption, atonement, expiation, propitiation, life and salvation. What can be more glorious than communion and participation with and in the divine nature?

Almighty God and Father, you have called us to hope of glory beyond all our wildest imagination. Ever give us a more clearer vision of this glory and give us your Holy Spirit that we may more and more daily live out our lives in this glory today and everyday so people may see Christ Jesus your son in us. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.