Col 1:3 We give thanks to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always concerning you, 4 Because we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and the love which you have unto all the saints 5 Because of the hope laid up for you in the heavens, of which you heard before in the word of the truth of the gospel,
Faith is to realize and receive what is in Christ, love is to experience and enjoy what we have received of Christ, and hope is to expect and wait for the glorification in Christ. Every genuine Christian has faith in the Lord Jesus and love toward all the saints [believers] . These two things prove that we are real Christians. Suppose I contact a certain person and tell him that I am one who believes in the Lord Jesus. If he does not respond to me in love, he himself may not be a genuine believer in the Lord. Love for the saints must always go along with faith in the Lord Jesus. They cannot be divorced. From the time we first believe in Christ, we spontaneously have love for other believers, no matter what their nationality may be. According to some people’s nature and their background, they don’t love certain nationalities.
A Chinese may actually hate a Japanese because of the damage Japan had caused to China. But after this Chinese is saved and has entered into the Church, he spontaneously falls in love for the Japanese believers. As soon as he enters into the room, spontaneously a love for those brothers wells up within him. His hatred for the Japanese vanishes. It is because these brothers believed in the Lord Jesus, and he also believed in Him. Therefore, they can love one another as fellow believers in Christ. This love is not a natural love, but a love that comes out of our faith in the Lord Jesus. We have to love all the saints, just as the Colossians loved all the saints, regardless of their nationality and regardless of whether they were Jew or Gentile. When a Chinese contact brothers from Japan, he does not have any consciousness that they are Japanese brothers and that he is a Chinese brother. On the contrary, he simply has the sense that they are all holy brothers in Christ.
Prayer Confession Heavenly Father Thank you for this word. Thank you for this great knowledge of having faith in God, love towards believers and also expectation for the Lord’s glorification. Lord we receive this insight with humility and the acknowledging that we are all holy brothers in Christ and because of this believing in the Lord, we enjoy this love that comes from this faith in Jesus’ name, Amen