A while back a colleague put me on the spot in a group by asking me: “why don’t you tell the folks how it is that you stay optimistic even in the face of great difficulties.” I instantly felt unusually self-conscious. My first instinct was to say, “because the alternative is unthinkable.” But then I thought, that is merely wishful thinking, and I hope I have something more substantial to go on in life. Wishful thinking is pitiful. It has a short shelf life. It’s not much better than buying a lottery ticket.
As a young adult my optimism may have been based on wishful thinking. Not that I hadn’t been through difficulties, like the death of my father when I was four. But most of the time things seemed to work out in life. That is how a lot of people stay upbeat–their trials have not been bone-crushing. Yet.
Today I am optimistic, but not because I think things always have a way of working out. Maybe they will; maybe they won’t. Romans 8:28 says “in all things God works for the good of those who love him,” not “every situation will work itself out.” We can only control our own actions–not those of others. We may learn from our mistakes, but just saying “I know better not to do that again” is no guarantee we will never repeat those mistakes. Memory is short, and will power is fleeting.
I am optimistic, but not because I’ve found a place of belonging that is a sanctuary or a fortress. I admire my country and its best ideals–but America is not the salvation of the world. I love the church–but Scripture never says the church is the hope of the world. I’m committed to my family–but I shouldn’t view my home as my oasis.
Real life experience reveals what Scripture has said all along: our hope is in the Lord. There is no other kind of hope. When other people or institutions do make us more hopeful, it is when they are faithfully acting as intermediaries of the hope of God in Christ.
The optimism we derive from hope is not lofty, ethereal, out-of-touch. It is feet-on-the-ground, practical, earthy, everyday. The anchor of hope is dug into heaven, but we hold onto the rope of the anchor right here, right now. Both hands. White-knuckled. Wherever we live. For one person “today” is a hospital bed, for someone else, looking through the job listings with shaking hands, and for yet another, sitting comfortably behind a mahogany executive desk. It doesn’t really matter if things are going great or you are teetering on the edge of some cliff–the only safe place in life is a living connection with God founded on faith, hope, and love.
Faith, hope, and love, of course, are “the things that remain” in the famous “love chapter,” 1 Corinthians 13, which says that all of our abilities, accomplishments, and accolades are fleeting. Every single one. What we do should never be our basis for confidence.
But faith remains. The faith by which we open our hands and receive that forgiveness that nullifies the guilt of every sin borne of our stupidity, rebellion, or even unintended mistakes. Every sin. The guilt that weighs on our minds, gnaws at our guts, and screams in our ears. Nobody can tell the forgiven son or daughter of God “you’re not good enough,” because being “good enough” has never ever been the point.
Hope remains. So we can look forward–while we we look backward at the same time. The biblical view of hope is not “I never look back,” “I don’t second-guess myself,” “let’s just move on.” Hope is confidence in what God will do in the long term, based on what we witnessed him do before. Hope is a bridge which is secured at both ends: future and past. Imagine the Apostles in the Book of Acts standing before a crowd and saying “We have a plan. We will take you into the future. And we will never ever look back.” No, they gave people hope for the future as they intentionally looked to the past–to the landmark accomplishments of God. Pharisees offered institutional hope; prophets offered God-grounded hope. They looked forward as they looked back.
And then there is love. Always the bottom line. Always the most important thing. Always the mark of being a disciple of Jesus. “By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another” (John 13:35).
So, I’d like to be optimistic about today, this week, this year, or however many days I have in this life. But I want to set aside any naive wishful thinking, which is just pitiful. I cannot assume anything will be easy. The Bible wouldn’t talk about spiritual war if every battle was always won.
What do you think?
How true your words are. I have had to walk what seem to me to be a long road with many hills these past two years with out my long time husband of 34 years with God holding me and not once did i ask God why? I just held on to Gods undying words to be there and see me though my every storm and me remembering that God is the maker of hills and they are never to high to climb as long as i have faith God is always with me.
I whole heartedly agree that our hope is in our lord I am eternally greatfull that he has provided us with family both by blood and in our church along with friends that can seem as close as family. It is such a amazing blessing to have people in our lives to reflect the love of God and help guide us to him for the hope we so despratly need.
John 16:33 “These things I have spoken to you, that IN ME you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.” NKJV …here Jesus spells out the reality of following Him and makes it clear that our only chance of peace is in HIM and not in the expectation of things getting better…..the Psalmist also says in Psalm 42:5 “Why, my soul, are you downcast? Why so disturbed within me? PUT YOUR HOPE IN GOD, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God.” NIV. Thank you Pastor Mel for those sobering words!
Amen! Well said.
“What we do should never be our basis for confidence.”
-also the results of what I do…cause then I start manipulating those results. Can I learn to live with difficult outcomes, or situations that reveal my hypocrisy? My narcisistic heart must appear perfect for my piousness and my confidence to remain in it; thankfully, in His mercy, He keeps tearing it down. But man, it hurts. So I’m just another messed up guy searching for a new fig leaf to hide my shame and a new wall to distance my insecurities, and yet He still pursues. Grace. My optimism doesn’t come from the temporal results, but the already achieved result. Praise for the rope of that anchor.
Thanks for this insight, Mr. Lawrence. Keep sowing.
I can stay positive because I have a purpose in life, (to honor and serve Christ). Circumstances cannot chang my purpose. There is always a reason to live even if circumstances are difficult. Yes I cry sometimes and ask why, but even when God is silent, I know he is there. My life is not always happy, but I feel reassured every morning and night when I pray and read my Bible. I know he gives me a future and a hope.
When you accept and understand that everything will not always be easy, that Jesus does in fact reduce our evil desires when we confess them and ask for reduction in His name, and we ask , in His name to recognize and do what is right, then there is no logical reason not to be optimistic.