I wait for the Lord, my whole being waits, and in His word I put my hope….Put your hope in the Lord, for with Him is unfailing love and full redemption. God Himself will redeem us from all our sins. (Psalm 130:5-8)
Christian Optimism
Jesus’ followers navigate through God’s world with Christ-centered thinking and living. We must go through many hardships before we enter Heaven. But Christians are optimistic because the Lord has redeemed us, He has given us work to do for Him, and He is with us in all our endeavors. Optimism in Christ should drive how we plan and make decisions.1 We are living under God’s wise, sovereign, and loving hand, so we live according to the Scriptures:
Now listen, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.” Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. Instead, you ought to say, “If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that.” As it is, you boast in your arrogant schemes. All such boasting is evil. (James 4:13-16)
So we make plans, God requires that. But we must always be yielding to Jesus’ kingly ordering of things. We’re optimistic, using the talents, gifts, skills, and opportunities God gives us to serve Him and other people. Then we rest in the Lord’s over-ruling providence, with a can-do attitude. God says in Proverbs: Commit to the Lord whatever you do, and He will establish your plans….Many are the plans in a person’s heart, but it is the Lord’s purpose that prevails….Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to Him, and He will make your paths straight.2
This builds on our previous posts. You can read Optimism in Jesus and True Optimism in Christ
Here are more reasons for Christ-based hope from Scripture.
We Hope In God Because He is with Us in Hard Times
Scriptures: Don’t be afraid, for I am with you. Don’t be discouraged, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you. I will hold you up with my victorious right hand….Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows. But take heart, because I have overcome the world….God has said, “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.” So we say with confidence, “The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid. What can mere mortals do to me?” (Isaiah 41:10; John 16:33; Heb 13:5-6)
Comments: Matthew 28 closes with Jesus’ Great Commission and He commands us to make disciples of all nations. We are to help others be Christ’s faithful followers all across the planet. Jesus also gives us His Great Encouragement: I am with you always, to the very end of the age. The Lord gives us a colossal assignment which we can never accomplish on our own. Believers for the past 2,000 years and now face dangerous obstacles, rejection, and persecution in God’s work. Sometimes we are isolated and lonely. Often we feel inadequate. But Christ’s promise, His presence, and His power make all the difference. By God’s grace, we will succeed!
Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain. (1 Cor 15:58)
God is Now Here
An atheist and a Christian were engaged in an intense public debate. On the blackboard behind the podium, the atheist printed in large capital letters, “GOD IS NOWHERE.” When the Christian rose to offer a rebuttal, he rubbed out the W at the beginning of where and added that letter to the preceding word no. Then the statement read, “GOD IS NOW HERE.”3 That’s what the Bible teaches from beginning to end.
Let’s not think that the Lord is only up in Heaven, apart from being active on Earth. God wants us to seek Him, reach out for Him, and find Him, because He is not far from any one of us. For in God (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit) we live and move and have our being. We are His offspring.4 The Lord is involved in our story. He is part of our life, as nearby as God’s angel who wrestled all night with Jacob and changed him forever.5 God is involved and marvelously ever-present.6 Since His resurrection, Jesus has been on the loose and active in the world.
Conclusion
It’s good to know that the Lord is here, beloved. When our world is caving in, let’s be like wise little children. We may be crying, but we know who to run to. God has His arms wide open to us. We can’t physically run to Him, but we can:
- Call on God in prayer
- Tell Him what worries or upsets us
- Ask for guidance and for His help to trust and obey Him
- Meet with other Christ-followers and ask for their help;
- And choose to hang on to the Lord in faith until the disaster is past.7
Much of our unhappiness in life comes from listening to ourselves instead of talking to ourselves. So let’s turn that around and use 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.
Notes (various translations): 1 Some of these thoughts adapted and expanded from Paul J. Dean, Jr. 2 Proverbs 16:3; 19:21; 3:5-6. 3 Story heard from Vernon Grounds. 4 Acts 17:27-28. 5 Gen 32:22-32; 35:1-15. 6 Psalm 46. 17 Psalm 18:3; 1 Peter 5:7; James 1:5; Acts 2:42-47; Psalm 57:1.