‘Christ in you, the Hope’
- Jan 23
- 6 min read
J.I. Packer said, “There is hope for a ruined humanity — hope of pardon, hope of peace with God, hope of glory—because at the Father’s will Jesus Christ became poor and was born in a stable so that thirty years later, he might hang on a cross. It is the most wonderful message that the world has ever heard, or will hear.”
My text for today: “God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory” (Col 1:27).
The letter to the church at Colossae is actually dealing with the problem of boredom, of apathy, and lack of vitality. Life had no zeal, zest or zing for these Colossian Christians.
So, Paul seeks to reveal the true secret of life: it is the discovery of a Person, ‘Christ in you the HOPE.’
Don’t you find this amazing? The God of hope lives inside us. We are filled with hope, we are overflowing with hope, that’s just the way we are as God’s people. Aren’t we?
Is this how we are feeling going into 2026?
You see, hope is not a what, or a when, or a why. Hope is a "who." Hope is embodied in a person. Jesus Christ is that someone.
Jesus is the way of bringing life back in us! His resurrection proves that He is stronger than any setback, any failure, any loss, any disappointment.
We are talking about radical heart surgery, when God and only God can enable us to know ‘the hope of glory.’
Tim Keller said, “Christ in you. That is the great miracle, the great mystery, the fact on which all the other facts of Christianity are based, and through which the other forces of Christianity become operative. Christ in me is the most certain thing in all my personal experience. But “Christ in you, the hope of glory” means a great deal more. He who gives us a vision of the ultimate is also the one present to deal with everything that comes our way.”
Then through the darkness, Your loving kindness Tore through the shadows of my soul
The work is finished, the end is written, Jesus Christ, my living hope
As we go into 2026, don't hang your hopes on anything other than ‘Christ alone.’
He is ‘Christ in you the hope of glory.’
At the commencement of this New Year, let’s accept all that He has given us and done for us. The death on the cross and His resurrection is our VICTORY! What an amazing and life-changing reality! Christ living in you is a mystery but also the very foundation of who we are. It becomes our highest declaration as His kingdom people. Not only are sins forgiven when we come to Christ, but He lives within us. Which must mean believing with Him that life is worth living TODAY!
Such hope surely causes us to live expectantly, believing that God will do a new radical thing in us that will far surpass the past, because His ‘glory’ refers to His nature, His love, mercy, compassion, grace, and truth becoming alive in us. Imagine Christ's life being lived out from us by the power of the Holy Spirit.
Tim Keller further states – “You and I are unavoidably and irreducibly hope-based creatures. We are controlled how we live now by what we think will happen later. Christian hope has to do with the ultimate future, not the immediate.”
1 John 3:2-3: “We know that when Christ appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. Everyone who has this hope in him purifies himself, just as he is pure.”
Our text states, "Christ in you, the hope of glory". It’s obvious I know, but this must mean Jesus is at the very centre of our life. He lives in us, so everything that He is indwells us. The all-knowing, all-sovereign, all-powerful, unchangeable, omnipresent Creator God in Christ is in us by his Holy Spirit! Wow!
We could never have this new life, new power, this new source of energy, this comfort and strength in our life, if Jesus had not done what He did. It is on the basis of His death and resurrection that we have what He is.
Brennan Manning states, “Were we forced to rely on our own shabby resources we would be pitiful people indeed. But the awareness of Christ's present risenness persuades us that we are buoyed up and carried on by a life greater than our own. The Christ within who’s our hope of glory isn’t a matter of theological debate or philosophical speculation. He’s not a hobby, a part-time project, a good theme for a book, or a last resort when all human effort fails. He’s our life, the most real fact about us. He’s the power and wisdom of God dwelling within us.”
"He’s our life, the most real fact about us." What a thought! But is that the reality in our life, three weeks into this New Year?
Let this song remind us - 'In Christ alone.'
No guilt in life, no fear in death; this is the pow'r of Christ in me.
From life's first cry to final breath, Jesus commands my destiny.
It's a Hope that’s personal. Christ Himself is the hope we’re anchored in. There’s no hope outside of Him, but the hope we do have is as big as He is. Amazing!
Christ in me! Living in me. Transforming me. Empowering me. Redeeming me. Sanctifying me, and ultimately, securing me for eternity.
Ephesians 2:12 says: “Once we were lost and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in this world.” But now, we have “Christ in us the HOPE!”
Our new birth in Christ moves us from no hope, to hope. It is indeed my prayer we’ll know this true and living HOPE today.
It’s so reassuring that as Christians we can say with the writer of Hebrews, "we have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure" (Heb 6:19).
In the previous verse, He asks (commands) us to “take hold of the hope” or “seize the hope!” I’m asking us to do the same at the start of 2026.
"Christ in you, the hope of glory"
Lewis Smedes wrote, "Is there a hope when hope is taken away? Is there hope when the situation is hopeless? That question leads us to Christian hope, for in the Bible, hope is no longer a passion for the possible. It becomes a passion for the promise."
Our future 'Hope' must fuel our life of faithfulness now! As Christians, we have a hope that is alive in us and therefore enables us to set our whole life upon, especially when life becomes overwhelming with anxiety and difficulty. It’s simply trusting Him in spite of the circumstances!
In fact, in Zechariah 9:12 we read,“Return to the stronghold, you prisoners of hope.” It’s an amazing thought, you and I are imprisoned by the hope of God, but only if we "Return to the Stronghold." Israelites living 500 years before Jesus was born were prisoners of discouragement and despair. But they were told not to be bound as exiles but by the hope that ignites new life, new heart and new possibilities. The text is a call to turn around and move forward to know God again; to realise we are prisoners of hope, not prisoners of circumstances.
Today, He’s our stronghold, the source, foundation, the guarantee of hope against all hope. The thing is, no matter what has happened in our lives, the grace of God today still keeps us captive to 'Hope'. Our future hope in us has more life and power than the past ever had! Hallelujah!
Listen to how Romans 15:13 assures us: “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may abound (overflow) with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.”
What a prayer! Notice the verse begins and ends with hope. Our God of hope will be with the people of hope so that they abound in HOPE!
‘Abound’ means an abundance, to exceed, to superabound in quantity or quality, be in excess, forever remaining over and above with more to spare.
This must mean ABOUNDING HOPE pushes out all other contrary feelings of fear, anxiety, bitterness. Hope doesn’t coexist well with these.
May such HOPE be reawakened in our hearts today.
A reminder that our text states, "Christ in you, the hope of glory." Christ in you and I is the only hope we have of ever discovering the glory that God intended for us. This hope becomes fuel for our journey.
I’ll let Tim Keller have the last word: “I want your inner being to be like that with regard to hope. I want you to be riddled with it. I want your insides, your heart, to be ablaze with the hope. It is not enough to just know the hope with your head. You have got to be completely absorbed and saturated with the hope in your life.”
So energising, so uplifting, so joyous. I'm so glad that God drew me to last weeks post. What a way to start my day and the rest of my life. Thank you do much Harry. God bless you x