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Colossians 1:5
5 For [dia] the hope [elpis] which [ho] is laid up [apokeimai] for you [humin] in [en] heaven [ouranos], whereof [hos] ye heard before [proakouo] in [en] the word [logos] of the truth [aletheia] of the gospel [euaggelion]; KJV-Interlinear
5 because of the hope laid up for you in heaven, of which you previously heard in the word of truth, the gospel, NASB
The word, before, ‘proakouo,’ refers to a contrasting view. On the one hand, when before you heard the gospel, your knowledge was limited to that which you knew only from the world. And the world offered no hope.
Hope has three connotations here. First there is the expectation of something. Second, there is the anticipation of something, and then third, there is the confidence of something. All three must have an object with which to focus ones future beliefs.
As for the world, there is no future of any significance or substance, there is not even the slightest of expectations, or anything in reality with which to focus ones attention. Therefore, in that regard, any expectations, any anticipations, any confidence from this world, is based on an imagined idea (love, happiness, success, etc), that lacks substance and therefore will never be.
An example of this is your expectation that one day you will discover how to convert rocks into gold, with the mere thought from your mind. Ridiculous? Of course, but that is exactly what folks do with respect to the world when they keep Bible doctrine out of their life. They are expecting success, love, happiness, or whatever, and they will never come to pass.
And on the other hand, when doctrine is made a significant part of your life, then your expectations, your anticipations, your confidences are based on someone (in this case, Jesus Christ), who is very real, very powerful, and very much in control over every aspect of life.
The world will always promote its agenda. It will promote hustle, connections, networking, organization, human skills, human attributes, human motives, human good intentions, etc. And in fact these will all end up as dead ends, when truth is excluded.
Bible doctrine, on the other hand, promotes your relationship with God, which will continually be attacked and tested, by the world. The world will always promote doubt, questioning, and the world will inundate you with examples of those who disregard God, but who are seemingly successful, or always falling into the good luck of the world. And as you try and try, over and over, you’ll wonder why it is that your life doesn’t seem to reap some of those blessings that others seem to be receiving. And they, are less than deserving, of course.
So, there is the hope of the world, and the hope from within your spiritual life. The world promotes the tangible things of the world, and God promotes the intangible relationship with Himself.
The difference between what you can see, and what you cannot see, is faith. And faith is one of the most difficult attributes to develop in our life. Only time, patience, study and the daily repetition of ones spiritual life, will develop faith to its fullest, and confidence to its maximum, and the benefits from God to beyond their limits.
