A churchwarden once said to me: ‘I don’t believe in thrusting my opinions down peoples’ throats, I wait for them to ask me why I’m different.’ I was tempted to ask him how often they did that, but managed to bite my tongue!
We have a message that people need and that God longs for them to hear. We have been given a secret – a mystery that they need to know and understand. This word ‘mystery’ is a key word in Colossians. Today most people think the mystery is why anyone is involved with church. They desperately need to know. ‘The mystery that has been kept hidden for ages and generations, but is now disclosed’ (Col. 1:26). ‘God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery’ (Col. 1:27).
What is this mystery? It is nothing less than the hope of eternal life and how we can obtain this. Colossians 1:27 gives us this secret: ‘Christ is in you, the hope of glory.’
