Colossians 1:5 - Not the greatest, but in the top three!

"Because of the hope being stored away to you in the heavens, which you heard before in the word of the truth of the Good News..." 

-Having mentioned their faith and their love, Paul now mentions their hope.  Elsewhere Paul singles out these three things as those traits which endure above all others, which rise to the top as those which most characterize a follower of Jesus Christ (and to be sure he adds that the greatest of those three is love - 1Corinthians 13.1).

-Hope is a feeling of expectation for something which one desires - the more hopeful you are, the more confidence you have of laying hold what you desire.  Inversely, the more hopeless a situation, the less confident you are of a desired outcome.  And there are many nuances to hope in Christianity.  There is the general desire and expectation - warranted or not - in this case for salvation and eternal life (Titus 1.2).  There is the source of the expectation or the object on which that hope is placed - in this case it is the person (Jesus) or thing (the Good News) that will save you (He IS our only hope - 1Timothy 1.1; the hope of the Gospel - Colossians 1.23).  There is the expectation which we then fix on the One Who will save us before we are actually saved (which is somewhat synonymous with faith - 1Timothy 4.10, Ephesians 1.12, 2Corinthians 1.10).  Then there is the expectation which results from or is strengthened by salvation, the living hope and confidence and assurance which results from faith or saving hope (Romans 5.2, 5.4-5, 12.12, 15.13, Hebrews 6.18, 1Peter 1.3).  But Paul here is grateful not because of their feeling of hope, but because he knows there is a sure hope laid up for them in heaven.  It is something external to them, a hope which is the sure outcome of their hope in the Gospel.  In other words, he is thankful for the reality of their salvation, which is through their faith, and of which HE is confident because they love one another.

-One might ask, what of those who have NO hope, or who have false hope...?  A situation or life that is utterly hope-less is no place to be.  Surely those who have found hope in Jesus have something to share...!

-Nevertheless, Paul adds that the Colossians had previously heard about this heavenly hope when they heard the Good News.  He also calls it the Word of Truth.  It is completely true, and therefore it is completely trustworthy.  You can commit your entire life to it - forgiveness for your past, purpose and power in the present, and hope as well as total forgiveness for the future.