I am generally an optimistic person. I see
my glass half full, if not more. I am happy to wear rose-colored glasses, and see the best in people, most of the time. Really, it’s the only way to go through life. Some might call this naive, even foolish. And perhaps I am. It might be foolish to believe a team with the most heart, but a losing record, could win the next big game. Or that good guys who play by the rules win, or that love conquers all. But I am ok with that. I’d rather see the world in terms of possibility and promise, even against all odds.
Optimism is is my modus operandi by nature. I think I was just born with a propensity to see the world a certain way. But the world has done its best to rattle that stance. It wants to shake our foundations so that our rose-colored glasses sit a little askew on the bridge of our nose, and our glass has tipped over and all the water spilled out. It does rattle us.
We wake up one day and discover there is real evil in the world, that cheaters prosper, and love didn’t win this time. We wonder if maybe we were playing the wrong game all along, and placed our bet on the wrong horse. Is that what they called lost innocence? Or is that just doubt and cynicism?
On the mornings I wake up in doubt, and seem inundated with the squalor of the human condition (even, and most especially my own), I am reminded of James 1:6 that says those who doubt are like a wave on the sea, blown
and tossed by the wind. We can be easily blown off course if we have believed in the alignment of the universe, or luck, or in the goodness of people, or in ourselves, or in or any other material force that promises to deliver positive outcome. On those mornings, I have forgotten one important distinction. Optimism
is not hope. And there is still hope, for online casino’s me, for you and for the world.
Hope is not a wishful thinking, or a general inclination to believe good will prevail. Hope is not whistling in the wind, and or Plan B to get rich in the lottery. Hope is one thing: it is our firm and secure tether to the living God, who has made a promise to us. Our hope is secure and firm (Hebrews 6:19) because it is based upon a unchangeable God who keeps his promises. God has made promises to you and
to me. Do you know yours?
In the midst of our cynical
world, that would teach us that there is no beauty or virtue or nobility (or at least that these things are out of vogue), we still believe in a way that diverges from this way as the only possibility. God has promised us something greater than what the world advertises and that promise is just on the other side of hope.
How do we get to the other side of hope? Jesus, our gate, our door, our cord that binds us, links us to that promise. He is our way to God. He is the way through to the other side. If we want the promise of God, we have to hold onto Jesus. 2 Corinthians 1:20 says that all of God’s promises are a “yes” in Jesus Christ. He is not only the way, He is the promise, and the fulfillment of all that God wants to give us.
So I hold unswervingly to the hope I profess (Hebrews 10:23). I wait with firm expectation, and sure confidence in God’s goodness, his power and his faithfulness. But this is not foolishness. It is life. For me there is no other way to live. And yes, my cup is not only half full, it runneth over.
“And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts…” Romans 5:3
“But in this hope we are saved.” Romans 8:24