A Glass Half-Full?

Yesterday I spoke with my uncle who is 82. He badly fractured his pelvis several years ago. The injury healed but the drugs he took for pain left him with severe vertigo. But, Glenn was having none of the ‘too bad, so sorry’ stuff!  “When I get this dizziness under control, I will be doing what I did when I was forty years old,” he said.  Who doesn't love an optimist?  Given our present circumstances here in this US of A, we need a few who can see the silver lining on every cloud!  Optimism is a blessing, but it can only go so far in changing our situation. Sometimes reality rolls in like a tsunami to bury even the most hopeful.

Do not confuse optimism with faith. 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, job loss, disease, and death. Optimism believes that greater effort will produce a positive outcome. It rests heavily on the potential of human will. Faith rests squarely on the Person and Promise of God. Faith looks much like optimism from the outside. Faith infuses the disciple with hope that grows out of the conviction that the Lord works in all things to accomplish good for those who love Him! (Romans 8:28)

We may think we are expressing faith when we make bold assertions about what we think God will do. "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 his soul, it is a statement of faith!  Some godly people are sure that if they say positive things and force themselves to 'believe' with conviction, God will be obligated to do what they ask. This, they claim, is faith. They are sadly mistaken, headed for a collision with reality.

Both my understanding of the Bible and my personal experience give me reason to pray with hope and faith. But, 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 He is God and we are not!

In terms of staying power and enjoying the true peace of God mere optimism can never take the place of great faith!

So, how do we move beyond optimism to faith?

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.

Our word from the Word is a POWERFUL inspiration to world-class faith. Pray that the Spirit will allow you to receive it as soul-food today.

"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)

__________

My faith has found a resting place,

Not in device nor creed.

I trust the Ever-living One,

His wounds for me will plead.

I need no other argument,

I need no other plea,
It is enough that Jesus died,

And that He died for me.