"The sun will come out tomorrow, bet your bottom dollar that tomorrow there'll be sun." sings Annie. In spite of her sorrows she hopes for a better day, a day of sunshine. She is the prime optimist. Who doesn't love an optimist? Those who choose to see the silver lining on every cloud are a gift to the rest of us! My appeal to you today, Believer, is that you do not confuse optimism with faith. They may appear the same from a distance but they are not. Optimism, as encouraging as it may be, cannot change the reality of life. Yes, the person with the sunny outlook may weather the storms a little better than others, they may find more friends to travel life's roads with them, but they still must deal with falling Dow averages, broken hearts, disease, and death.
Optimism is built on the hope that greater effort can produce a positive outcome and around the potential of human will. Faith that is genuine rests squarely on the Person and Promise of God. Faith always trust in a purposeful God and looks much like optimism in that it believes the Biblical truth that He is working in all things to accomplish something for the good of those who love Him! (Romans 8:28) We can easily get confused and think we are expressing faith when we make bold assertions about what we think God will do about situations we want changed. "God will heal me, I am sure of it," a person claims. Is that an optimistic statement or a declaration of faith? One cannot tell just from the words. If it just an expression of general hope, it is mere optimism. If it an expression of what that person believes the Spirit has whispered into her soul, it is a statement of faith!
Some Believers mistakenly think that if they say positive things and force themselves to 'believe' in them with conviction, God will be obligated to do what they demand. This, they claim, is faith. They are sadly mistaken, headed for a collision with reality.
"So, Jerry," you're thinking, "don't you believe that prayer changes people's lives?" Sure do, friend. Both my understanding of the Bible and my personal experience give me reason to pray with hope and faith. God has given me many wonderful gifts over the years in response to prayer. I have experienced miraculous healing, provision for financial needs, forgiveness, and amazing opportunities - when I and others have prayed! However, faith-filled prayers are not those that demand that God act in a specific way. We are urged in the Scripture to pray boldly, to pray about anything and everything, to ask our Father for His favor - but always with humility, always remembering who is God and who is not!
Did Job suffer as he did because he did not pray with faith? No! He suffered according to the will of God for purposes that he did not know and could not grasp, and yet that faithful man did not turn on the Lord. Yes, he questioned. Yes, he even challenged God to explain Himself, but he quickly became humble and confessed that God was Lord of all saying, "Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him." (Job 13:15, NKJV) Did Paul go through hard times because he lacked faith? To suggest that is absurd. He reminds us that the sufferings he endured actually served to bring him to greater dependence on God! Peter tells us "those who suffer according to God’s will should commit themselves to their faithful Creator and continue to do good." (1 Peter 4:19, NIV)
Do not settle for mere optimism. Build great faith! How?
Get to know God - in prayer, through meditation, from the pages of the Scripture, in worship. Go beyond having a god (small 'g' intended!) that you keep around like a good luck charm, a deity you bring out to ward off 'bad luck.' That's the stuff of religion, the empty tradition of human based 'worship.' Give your life over to Him. Tell Him that you are delighted simply to belong to Him, to be used by Him, to serve His sovereign purpose. Does that sound frightening? It should, for He is an awesome (in the sense of 'fear and trembling') God! But He is also good. Faith allows us to go from good to great in His service. Faith lets us abandon our plans and demands to discover the adventure of being part of what God is doing.
Let me pray a Scriptural prayer for you today. As you read it, let it form faith in you.
"I fall to my knees and pray to the Father, the Creator of everything in heaven and on earth. I pray that from his glorious, unlimited resources he will empower you with inner strength through his Spirit. Then Christ will make his home in your hearts as you trust in him. Your roots will grow down into God’s love and keep you strong. And may you have the power to understand, as all God’s people should, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep his love is.
May you experience the love of Christ, though it is too great to understand fully. Then you will be made complete with all the fullness of life and power that comes from God. Now all glory to God, who is able, through his mighty power at work within us, to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think.Glory to him in the church and in Christ Jesus through all generations forever and ever! Amen." (Ephesians 3:14-21, NLT)
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