"... the faith and love that spring from the hope stored up for you in heaven.. Col. 1:5
One more day of pondering this verse. It has been said, "Don't be so Heavenly Minded that you are no Earthly Good" and of course there is a danger to that. I believe even the epistles to the church in Thessolonica addressed the problems with people quitting their jobs and sitting on the mountains looking up in the air. In today's setting, why even waste 4 years in college when the Lord could come back this week? Wouldn't it be better just to be "about His business?" I've had these thoughts, too, but there is much more truth spelled out in the Bible that says "If you want to be Earthly good, you have to be Heavenly minded." In fact the Faith chapter, Hebrews 11, points out 7 times that people living an effective life of faith were looking forward to a land not built by human hands, i.e. Heaven.
This is what we see in Colossians 1:5. Not only to live a life of love requires a hope of Heaven as we saw in the last blog, but to live a life of faith requires a hope of Heaven as seen in Hebrews 11. At first when I read this verse I think, now wait a minute; doesn't it take faith to believe in Heaven? How can faith spring from that which requires faith? After meditating on that for a while, I've come up with 2 thoughts. #1 - Maybe the "Hope stored up for us in Heaven" is not a thing but a person. As they said in 'Songs From the Loft" - "Hope has a name - Jesus". Maybe from Jesus, our giver of all good gifts comes down from heaven in the person of the Holy Spirit two "fruits" into our life love and faith and that may be what this passage means. #2 - Hope is not "I hope so" but rather a confident assurance that what has been promised will come to pass. Therefore, once we have that confident assurance based on God's word that Heaven is our for sure home, we can then live a life of faith based on that. That is the direction I am going with.
So knowing that I am headed for Heaven, how should that affect my life of faith? I would say most people are motivated by wealth, power, significance, to be loved and accepted, and comfort to name a few. Going in order, if we have treasures stored up that will last forever - a life of faith would not be spent on seeking wealth but laying it down to get eternal treasures. As to power, I am a child of the King, what do I care if I am the low person on the pecking order here on Earth. I can seek to elevate others. As to significance, the God of Heaven loves me so much that He sent His Son to die in my place so I could be adopted into His family. I don't need any acclaim down here. Let any praise I get go to Him. What if I don't feel loved or accepted down here? I will be loved and accepted eternally by my Father in Heaven. Therefore instead of seeking to be loved, I can seek to give love and acceptance to those who are ignored down here. And what if I don't live a life of comfort but live a life of disease, illness, hardship and pain down here? Should I be a whiner? No! I'm getting a new body that lasts forever. It will probably even have a six pack and full head of hair! Woo hoo!
So be so Heavenly minded that you can be Earthly good by living a life of faith fueled by your hope in Heaven.
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