“We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love that you have for all the saints, because of the hope laid up for you in heaven.”
(Colossians 1:3-5 ESV)
I’ve been actively involved in the church for most of my life. This was true also when I was not a pastor. And I’ve always enjoyed seeing and knowing those individuals, in the church, who genuinely love their fellow believers.
Their love for their fellow church members has been expressed in various ways. I’ve known those who cook and bake. And, whenever someone has a need, they are quick to show up at their door with a meal or a plate of cookies. There are the men who help others in the church with various work projects. Whenever someone needs something fixed, they are there with their tools to help. There are those who care for the elderly. They run them to the doctor, run errands for them, or simply visit with them. The examples of this are endless.
It begs the question: Why do they do the things that they do? Why do they give of themselves to bless others? Why do they inconvenience themselves to care for others?
After all, they usually get nothing out of these arrangements. And if offered payment, they typically refuse. They are simply there, with a joyful and willing heart, to love others.
What, then, is the source of this love? And what motivates this love? We see the answer to this question in the passage above.
Paul is speaking to the Colossian Church. He had not yet met these believers, but he had heard of them. He had heard of their faith in Christ and the love they possessed for the saints. And this led Paul pray for them. It led him to thank God for them.
However, as he mentions their faith, and as he mentions their love for the saints, he says that it results from the hope laid up for them in heaven. In other words, their belief and their hope were revealed in their acts of love. They were revealed in the acts of love performed for others.
Because of the great love demonstrated to them by God, they could not help sharing that love with others. Their love for the saints was the overflow of the love God had given them. The hope that they possessed, the hope of salvation and everlasting life in the kingdom of God, motivated their love for their fellow believers.
This is how it works in our life as well. Our hope in Christ, our hope in the gospel, both motivates and empowers our love of our fellow believers. As he has loved us, we love them. As he has blessed us so richly, we can’t help blessing others in return.
As we, then, better realize the greatness of God’s love, as we better realize the greatness of his blessing, it will result in our love of the saints. As we grow in faith, we will grow in the love we have for others. As our hope, as our assurance grows, it will overflow in acts of mercy.
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