| Christ in you, the hope of glory |
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Colossians 1:27 says, "To them God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory."
The apostle, Paul, wrote this to the church in the city of Colosse in Greece. He said that God chose to make a mystery known among them. the mystery is this: Christ in you, the hope of glory.
You have to know something about other philosophies or worldviews to know why this is mystery or even why it was important that Paul mention it to them. There are seven different worldviews - what gives life meaning. They are: theism (One God), atheism (no god), pantheism (all is god, god is all), panentheism (all is in god, god is in all), polytheism (many gods), deism (one god, but he doesn't intervene in the world), and finite godism (one god who has limited power). There are religions which fit into each category. The Greeks were a polytheistic culture - they had many gods. Their gods had human-like characteristics and didn't always get along with each other and they didn't always get along with humans either.
So, Paul presents Christianity to this city and establishes a church. And he lets them know that God has chosen to reaveal a mystery to them: Christ in you, the hope of glory. Even today, Christianity is the only religion with a God who delights to dwell in His people. In other religions, there is no god to be worshiped because everything is equal to god, or there are many gods to be worshiped, or god is so far away and the follower never seems to attain a personal connection with god even with devoting oneself to strict standards of living. There are those who pray five times a day and dress a certain way and their prayers are simply reciting memorized scriptures. In the end they do not even have the assurance of heaven. It is up to their god to decide that when their life ends.
Our faith is not like that. If we believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and confess that faith with our mouth, we shall be saved! Jesus, God Himself, made the way for us, and He said that He is preparing a place for us with His Father. Christianity gives us an assurance of where we will go when we die. In 2 Corinthians 6:16, it says, "...For we are the temple of the living God. As God has said: 'I will live with them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they will be my people.'"
Imagine how shocking it must have been for the Greeks to hear about a God who would make His home in the human heart. How wonderful it is for us to consider what it all really means today! It's a great mystery we've been entrusted with. Let's not keep it to ourselves. With the celebration of Christ's resurrection at hand, let's remember all those who don't yet know Him and share this great mystery with them.
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