Always Singing One Note

“We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, because we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love you have for all the saints – the faith and love that spring from the hope that is stored up for you in heaven and that you have already heard about in the word of truth, the gospel that has come to you.” -Colossians 1:3-5
In a recent sermon I shared the story of William Tyndale, a pastor from the 1500s who was passionate about translating the Bible from Greek and Hebrew into English, so the common people of England, Scotland, and other English-speaking countries would be able to read the Bible for themselves. His passion was met with great resistance, because the religious hierarchy of the time, sadly, did not want to give up the power they felt they had over the common people. Eventually, Tyndale did make a translation of the New Testament, but he was executed shortly afterwards, and it wasn’t until years later, 1611, that the King James Version was authorized and put into print. In William Tyndale’s lifetime, however, he made great strides in helping people understand the grace of God that was available to them through a relationship with Jesus Christ. It was said of him throughout his life that he always sang one note – that note being that people needed the Bible to be translated into language they could understand, so that they could know of God’s grace through Christ. This was his passion, this was his life’s purpose, and this was the ‘one note’ that he always sang. It made me think about what my ‘one note’ might be. What is my passion, my life’s purpose, my constant thread in my preaching, in my thought patterns, and in my life? Now that the Pittsburgh Steelers have ‘one for the thumb,’ I can finally start focusing on something else as my passion in life! Seriously, what is my passion? What is my ‘one note’ that I want to get across more than anything else? In a word, hope. Paul says it in Colossians 1:5 (see above), and I say it as often as I can as well. There is so much darkness in the world, there is so much tragedy, there is so much bad news out there, and yet in the midst of it all, always, there is hope. There is hope for this life, that there will be better days ahead. There is hope for this world, that we can leave it a better place for our children and grandchildren. And, thankfully, there is hope for us all when we pass from this life into the next. All hope is found in Jesus Christ. Our hope for our lives, our hope for our world, and our hope for our eternal soul. Hang on to hope! Always hang on to the hope that Jesus Christ is with you, and that His love and His power is stronger than anything the world may put in your path. Remember, too, Paul’s words about what hope. Hope is a spring from which love and faith abundantly flow. Do you have hope? Do you let your love and your faith flow out of the hope that God has stored up for you in heaven? Paul writes elsewhere of faith, hope, and love, and he makes it clear that the greatest of these is love. Here in Colossians, however, he makes it clear that love springs forth out of hope. Keep your hope alive in Jesus Christ, and He will see you through. What is your 'one note'?