Religious people are committed to their faith because of the value they place on it. Terrorists treasure their faith all because of the promises made to them about a paradise of sensual pleasure if they can kill infidels and even take their lives in the process.
They're devoted and committed to taking their lives and that of others because this life is worth nothing to them. The focus is an utopian paradise.
For the believer in Christ, what we have is also worth more than life itself yet most believers are pursuing all that life offers. What we carry, who we carry and the exceeding great and precious promises we have is worth more than gold and silver.
In Colossians 1:26, Paul is writing to believers in Jesus and he addressed us as “the Lord’s people”. If you know what it is to be associated with divinity, you'll jump and shout daily.
After Jesus ascended to heaven, He sent the Holy Spirit to live within us, never to leave (John 14:16–17; 16:7). Jesus told His disciples, “On that day you will realize that I am in my Father . . . and I am in you” (John 14:20).
Further, Paul said that the Holy Spirit seals us for the day of redemption (Ephesians 4:30). In other words, the Spirit’s presence in our hearts guarantees our ultimate salvation. Though we are in this world, we are not of it (John 17:16). Hallelujah!!!
Because of all these and many more, that's what Paul meant by saying, “Christ in you, the hope of glory.” The J. B. Phillips translation of Colossians 1:27 puts it this way: “The secret is simply this: Christ in you! Yes, Christ in you bringing with him the hope of all glorious things to come”.
This is the hope that we shall see Jesus someday having been conformed to His image (Romans 8:29; 1 John 3:2).
Inclusive in this hope of glory is our resurrection: “If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies because of his Spirit who lives in you” (Romans 8:11).
It includes a heavenly inheritance: “In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade. This inheritance is kept in heaven for you” (1 Peter 1:3–4). All these wonderful promises and many more are worth more than this life itself.
That's why Paul said, "However, I consider my life worth nothing to me; my only aim is to finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me--the task of testifying to the good news of God's grace" (Acts20:24).
Stop living for the now, treasure the things that are greater than this life.
