More than Optimism

We love stories about 'can do' people, those who like the little engine in the children's story, just keep going saying, "I know I can, I know I can!" But true faith is more than gritty determination or a positive outlook on
life. Faith has a fixed point of promise on which it rests securely.

In the book, Good to Great, (Harper, 2001) Jim Collins recounts a story of meeting Admiral James Stockdale. Stockdale was the highest ranking  American POW during the Vietnam war. For 8 long years he was confined in the "Hanoi Hilton," often tortured, both physically and psychologically. When the war ended and he was released, he came home to receive the Congressional Medal of Honor for his superb leadership of the other POW's and his valor during that terrible time. He helped many of those men survive their confinement by devising a communication method so they could encourage each other. He also set an example by resisting the work of the Vietnamese to use the POW's for propaganda purposes. When Collins met the Admiral, he asked him, "Who didn't make it out?" "Oh, that's easy,"

Stockdale replied, "The optimists." The men who convinced themselves, we'll be home by Christmas and then had to face disappointment; who then set the date for Easter and were crushed yet again, eventually gave up and died of broken hearts. Then Stockdale told Collins this: "You must never confuse faith that you will prevail in the end - which you cannot afford to lose - with the discipline to confront the most brutal facts of your reality; whatever they might be."

Collins names this "the Stockdale paradox." Retain faith that you will win in the end, while forcing yourself to face the facts, tell the truth, and deal with even the ugliness of your situation.

Believers who want to win the prize of the high calling of God would do well to observe the Stockdale Paradox. The great faith chapter, Hebrews 11, starts off with some great stories about people who lived in faith and who enjoyed success. The same chapter closes with illustrations of people who had great faith and appeared, in this life, to lose! The inspired writer closes the chapter with this summary about those good and faithful people who died without seeing their reward: "All of these people we have mentioned received God's approval because of their faith, yet none of them received all that God had promised." (Hebrews 11:39, NLT)

Our faith cannot be expressed in simple optimism that insists, "Everything will turn out great!" The awful truth is that good people sometimes die young. Great sacrifice sometimes appears to produce next to no results on this side of eternity. Godly people get Alzheimer's. People who live disciplined healthy lifestyles sometimes die from heart attacks. Depressed yet? Actually, looking at the worst stuff and realizing that God is still God, is the only way to remain true, steady, and enduring. I hate the false promises made by preachers of prosperity that cause people to think that they can control their lives by saying the right prayers and doing the
right things. These false prophets may seem to stir 'great faith' in people, but they also create many casualties of faith by building hope on a foundation of half-truths.
True faith is set in the goodness of God and His absolute promise that those who trust in Jesus Christ will have life eternal. He declares that in the End, He wins. But the End in His timeline is not necessarily correspondent with the end of our timeline.

Jesus promises us "I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live." (John 11:25, NKJV)

In the book of the Revelation, He says, ""You still have a few Christians in Sardis who haven't ruined themselves wallowing in the muck of the world's ways. They'll walk with me on parade! They've proved their worth! "Conquerors will march in the victory parade, their names indelible in the Book of Life. I'll lead them up and present them by name to my Father and his Angels." (Revelation 3:4-5, The Message)

That's the ultimate promise I take as my North Star to keep me on track through the present world. It is not mere optimism that steadies me, it is faith in the Eternal promises of my Savior and my God, to Whom belong all the praise, all the honor, all the glory. Amen!
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My Faith Has Found A Resting Place - Edmunds, Lidie H. / Gretry, Andre

My faith has found a resting place,
Not in device or creed;
I trust the ever living One,
His wounds for me shall plead.

I need no other argument,
I need no other plea,
It is enough that Jesus died,
And that He died for me.

Enough for me that Jesus saves,
This ends my fear and doubt;
A sinful soul, I come to Him,
He'll never cast me out.

My heart is leaning on the Word,
The written Word of God,
Salvation by my Savior's name,
Salvation through His blood.

I need no other argument,
I need no other plea,
It is enough that Jesus died,
And that He died for me.

C Public Domain