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Our pastor mentioned this verse in his sermon Sunday and it caught my attention. I instantly pictured this print and I couldn’t wait to paint it. As I painted, I began to meditate on the meaning of the passage …
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 God’s people – the faith and love that spring from the hope stored up for you in heaven. Colossians 1:3-5 (italics and bold mine)
I have always pictured hope springing from love – and I believe it does – but I hadn’t yet considered that it could work the other way around. When I feel loved, it is easy for me to have hope. Love helps me to see things from a positive point of view and hope seems to flourish in those places – but that kind of hope is delicate.
The hope that Paul is describing here is a “confident expectation” according to my Bible’s study notes. It is a hope we can count on – an expectation that will not ever be met with disappointment!
Free to Love
When we begin to understand the hope we have in Christ – unconditional love and acceptance, eternal life, spiritual blessings – we find freedom to love. The normal expectations we have for relationships include having our needs met and receiving love in return. When we experience the perfect love and security of relationship with God, we are free to give away our love without those same expectations since our needs are met in Him.
A Wellspring of Love
Proverbs 4:23 tells us to “guard your heart” and many of us use that warning to withhold love from others in an effort to protect ourselves. But if we examine the rest of the verse in conjunction with what we read in Colossians 1, we will understand that God offers us all the protection we need and still enables us to pour out love to those who may seem unloveable.
Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it. Proverbs 4:23 (italics and bold mine)
The source of a wellspring is not that from which it is drawn. The water that flows out comes from deep within the earth and it never dries up. The one who takes from the spring does not give in return but is simply blessed by the refreshment.
When we are fed by the deep and abiding hope that we receive from our confidence in Jesus, love can flow out of us and bless others without expectation.
From Hope Springs Love
Oh that the blooms of love might spring up in me from the deep, abiding hope I have found in Jesus. May others see in me the freedom I have to give love because my savior loves me. When I feel parched and dry, needy and weary, may I remind myself to draw from the wellspring of His living water. May the refreshment I find there bubble over and refresh everyone I meet.
Amen
The print featured above is available along with all of Wendy’s Prints, Cards, Journals, and Stickers at www.cornercopiafarmandstudio.com or by clicking on the shop on our home page.