.:The Hope of Glory:.

"the mystery that has been kept hidden for ages and generations, but is now disclosed to the saints. 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." Colossians 1:26-27


Wow!

That is some penetrating truth.

I am speechless after reading that and trying to make that make sense in my tiny little brain. That such a big, huge, unfathomable God, whom no one knows the mind of, much less instruct him...is in me. And in you.

Paul unlocked the mystery of the gospel a longgg time ago. But i feel like alot of us, in our lack of faith, deny that powerful truth and keep that truth locked up and a mystery. I know that recently, in my journey with jesus, i have not acknowledged that. Acknowledged that jesus, the hope of glory, the original idea of God...lives and resides in me. I don't have to go anywhere to be in the presence of God. He is in me. He is omnipresent. That makes sense now. The reason why i could go on writing about this truth is because it has been made real to me again in the last few days by a pair of Godly men from Venezuela. I'll tell the story....

Thursday

Matt has been talking about spreading the gospel among our campus and this thursday he was to talk about taking the gospel global. And the heart of God is for the nations. IE: "every tribe, nation and tongue will confess that jesus is Lord." So with that said, a very cool story unfolded before my eyes as a man named Reineir (pronounced Ray-neer) , who is a 33 year old pastor from a church in venezuela. Which 2 men on Grace Campus's board helped start a little over 8 months ago. Still with me?

moving along...

Reineir was going to be talking for about 10-15 minutes about what God was up to over in Venezuela. And so, as he was talking (with his hispanic twang trailing every word), he kept saying jesus is in you. It sounded so simplistic, but i couldn't get it. He kept saying all we need, all we have, all we want is in us. Because its in jesus. That is soo comforting to know. And realize, we will struggle throughout the rest of our lives for that truth to be real 24/7. But to be aware that jesus, the hope of glory is in me, changes alot. It takes our eyes off of us and our expectations that we place on ourselves and others goes out the window as well.

After encounter, i went up to him and asked him if i could take him and his wife to breakfast the next morning. You know, thinking i could bless them. Well, little did i know that i was going to be the one who got blessed. Turns out his wife couldnt make it...but the man whom they were staying with, and also a pastor from venezuela and now the pastor of the only hispanic church here in Auburn, came with us.

2 hispanic pastors and a 21 year old college kid, who by the way don't know each other from adam's housecat. (you liked that) Sat down and ate breakfast and talked about what God was doing in the bigger picture of things. You know, the bigger picture than ourselves. But they kept encouraging me by truth and words. They kept speaking into me and telling me that jesus, who is the original idea of God, is manifested in me. It was amazing. Amazing doesn't cut it. It was real. We prayed for each other and that God would make this truth real to his children in all the world. Truth is God blessed each of us that morning with more than breakfast food. Rather, with spiritual food. With Jesus. Amen!

Through that and through the lives of other people, it has been really clear to me that jesus is soo committed to us. He is soo committed to restoring the hearts of men and countries that rival him. That sin. Before the beginning of creation...jesus-the truth, the original idea of God, was always meant to save us from ourselves and from our sin. He knew that our depravity would lead us to him. So that glory would be made known in all the world. That's the heart of God. Jesus is the heart of God. And jesus is in us. Thank you father, for loving us individually and collectively. For being committed to us when we aren't committed to you. Thank you jesus that you are THE hope of glory...and not me or anyone else.

May you hear him and be blessed to know him today. Thank you for tracking with me all the way down this page. God blessses you.

.:johnchristian:.