Tuesday, September 30, 2008

Morning Moments

The apostle Paul wrote these word to the Colossians: "Christ in you; the hope of glory."  Every true believer understands the Christ in you, but what do we know of the hope of glory?

In the first place, we find hope used with faith and love in 1 Corinthian 13, but what are we to understand about it?  Paul said the greatest of these is love, but why?  Think about it.

Love is important because it is not merely something we do, rather what we are.  We are either loving or hating and the extent to which we are either depends upon our faith, our capacity to believe God.  I believe He is able to use unloving people in my life to teach me the need for more love in mine, and that love comes as a result of my truly believing that.  In other words, faith is the means by which I love, understanding that the God who has forgiven me and patiently waited on my coming to Him is doing the same through me with those who are not loving.

BUT hope is the abiding confidence that the God of love, in whom I place the faith He deposited in me shall accomplish through me what He alone can accomplish, whether it be in time or eternity.

Glory is "a state of great gratification or exaltation".  Now think about this as it relates to hope. The very presence of Christ in me in the first place causes me to experience a state of great gratification or exaltation for Him in the present, but it also causes me to experience a state of great gratification or exaltation for all that He has promised regarding my future.  So that NOW I glory in His presence in me, but THEN I shall glory in my presence with Him.  So it is not my glory, but His glory!

PRAYER:  Father it is through faith that I understand that You and You alone are worthy of great gratification or exaltation, and it is my love for you and those around me that demonstrates the hope or abiding confidence

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