Colossians 1:23 “If ye continue in the faith grounded and settled, and be not moved away from the hope of the gospel, which ye have heard, and which was preached to every creature which is under heaven; whereof I Paul am made a minister;”
The phrase “If ye continue …” presents a condition for blessings and happiness in this present life, much like “If ye be willing and obedient, ye shall eat the good of the land: 20 But if ye refuse and rebel, ye shall be devoured with the sword: for the mouth of the LORD hath spoken it.” (Isaiah 1:19). In this context, “the faith” refers to our Lord’s unchanging truths of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and “the hope of the gospel” refers to His “exceeding great and precious promises” (II Peter 1:4). “If” we “continue” to obediently believe and live and profess these things “which” we “have heard, and which was preached” to us by the Apostles of Jesus Christ and are now recorded in His Holy Word, we will experience blessings and happiness, even in the very midst of the greatest storms and trials of our lives. It seems that, in every generation, there is a tendency to fall back into a theological works system in which the Children of God are taught that there is some action that they must take in order to earn or obtain and/or maintain Eternal Life with our Lord in His Heaven. Paul specifically denounced such teachings when he declared, “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: 9 Not of works, lest any man should boast.” (Ephesians 2:8-9). And these blessed truths were authoritatively sealed “When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, he said, It is finished: and he bowed his head, and gave up the ghost.” (John 19:30). We are strongly Commanded to “Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage.” (Galatians 5:1) and “Ye therefore, beloved, seeing ye know these things before, beware lest ye also, being led away with the error of the wicked, fall from your own stedfastness.” (I Peter 3:17). Job was a man of “faith” and, in the very midst of awful troubles in his life, he was blessed to joyfully turn his mind to Heaven and declare, “For I know that my redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth: 26 And though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God: 27 Whom I shall see for myself, and mine eyes shall behold, and not another; though my reins be consumed within me.” (Job 19:25-27). “Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego” were men of “faith”, and just before they were thrown into “the burning fiery furnace”, they declared to the king, “If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of thine hand, O king.” (Daniel 3:17). Therefore, let us prayerfully “be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord” (I Corinthians 15:58).