To whom God would make known what is the riches
of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles;
which is Christ in you, the hope of glory:
Colossians 1:27

1. Christ is your Hope of Glory: People hope in their
businesses, their houses, their cars and their money.
But it is Christ who is your Hope of Glory.
People put their hope in their uncles and their fathers, but
they may not take care of them in return. Some also put their
hope in their mothers who may abandon them. Some hope in
their education whilst others hope in their wealth. Yet others
put their hope in their jobs and others have hopes of going to
America. But none of these things that men hope in can save
us. Jesus Christ is the only hope for this world.
Wilt thou set thine eyes upon that which is not? for
riches certainly make themselves wings; they fly away
as an eagle toward heaven.
Proverbs 23:5

An horse is a vain thing for safety: neither shall he deliver
any by his great strength.
Psalms 33:17

2. Christ is your Hope of Glory: People put their hope
in man but that is a mistake. It is Christ who is your
Hope of Glory.
It is better to take refuge in the Lord than to trust in man.
Psalms 118:8 (NASB)
Some trust in chariots, and some in horses: but we will
remember the name of the LORD our God.
Psalms 20:7

3. Christ is your Hope of Glory: People put their hope in
politicians to give us all a good life. But Jesus is our
only Hope for an abundant life.
Even the disciples thought that Jesus was bringing a political
solution to their problem. They asked Jesus: “Lord, wilt thou at
this time restore again the kingdom to Israel?” (Acts 1:6) This
was a request for political change. But Jesus did not come to
bring political changes.

All over the world, people hoped that political change would
bring solutions to the many problems of their lives. African
nations hoped that independence would bring freedom, justice
and prosperity. But instead, independence has brought bondage,
injustice and poverty.
Ghana has undergone different types of political change.
Ghana has gone through many political upheavals. From
colonialism to independence to coup d’etats, to house-cleaning
exercises, to revolutions and more democratic reforms. None of
these situations have brought the glory that people so desire. The
truth is simple, “Christ in us is the Hope of glory!”
Europe, which has developed its democratic systems
perfectly, has equally given birth to other evils and depravities in
their society. Civil rights movements in America have certainly
not eradicated poverty from the black community. Independence
from the evil apartheid system has certainly not taken away all
the problems of the black people in South Africa.
Jesus Christ is the One who can give us the abundant life
that we so desire. Christ is our only Hope of Glory! “The thief
cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am
come that they might have life, and that they might have it more
abundantly” (John 10:10).

The Lying Politicians

I once heard an interesting account of an election campaign
in an African country we shall call “Duburungana”. There were
two main political parties and both of them were campaigning
hard to win the presidential elections that year.
The campaigning was done by travelling to the different
towns and villages to hold rallies and to ask people to vote for
them. Some of the towns and villages were, to say the least, very
remote and were only visited during election years. The villagers
had become accustomed to seeing electioneering politicians
visit them once every four years. These politicians would make
promises to them and then would not show up again till the next
election. As a result the villagers had lost all faith in politicians.
One day, something terrible happened during the Duburungana
national campaign. A large convoy of Nissan patrols, Toyota
Land Cruisers and other smaller cars were involved in a terrible
accident near one of these remote towns. Several people were
killed and others were seriously injured.
It took several days before the police and other institutional
authorities arrived from the city to the accident scene.
Unfortunately, there were no telephones and there was no
electricity in that town. There were also no hospitals or mortuaries
in that neglected town.
When the information about the accident finally reached
them, it took forever for the medical team to get there, as there
were no roads to these villages. Upon arrival, the teams of police
and health care personnel asked, “Where are the victims of the
accident?”
“Everyone is dead, and everyone is buried,” the villagers
answered.
The police asked, “Did everyone die in the accident?”
“Yes, of course everyone died in the accident! What do you
take us for? Do you think we would bury people who were
alive?”
The police and the health teams were baffled.
Then the villagers explained further, “We have no light here,
we have no hospital, we have no electricity, we have no mortuary
and we have nowhere to keep dead bodies so we buried them.”
There was silence from the team that had come from the city.
They could not believe their ears. “Everyone dead?”
Then they asked the villagers again, “Did everyone really
die?”
The villagers retorted, “Of course everybody was dead. That
is why we buried them. We even buried those who claimed that
they were not dead because we knew they were lying since they
were politicians.”
The villagers had grown to believe that politicians only tell
lies and never the truth. So they did not believe the politicians
when they claimed to be alive after the accident.
This is how low the trust placed in man and his political
systems have fallen.

4. Christ is your Hope of Glory: Christ is our Hope of
healing and prosperity. Only Christ can give us the
prosperity and the healing that we want.
The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed
me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal
the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives,
and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them
that are bruised,
Luke 4:18

5. Christ is your Hope of Glory: Christ is our Hope for
salvation and Heaven.
Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none
other name under heaven given among men, whereby we
must be saved.
Acts 4:12

In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so,
I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And
if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and
receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be
also.
John 14:2-3