Author Steven Lake
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| Are You A Spiritual Optimist? Tuesday, May 27th, 2014 11:48am Keywords: (None) |
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| Optimism (noun) - a disposition or tendency to look on the more favorable side of events or conditions and to expect the most favorable outcome. Pessimism (noun) - the tendency to see, anticipate, or emphasize only bad or undesirable outcomes, results, conditions, problems, etc.: His pessimism about the future of our country depresses me. Those two words describe the entirety of humanity, as we are either one, or the other. We are either positive about things, or we are negative, and that attitude rules our lives, drives our choices, our actions, our very beliefs. These two viewpoints are so powerful that even Christ spoke of them during His brief time on Earth. What do I mean? Matthew 17:20b (KJV) - If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you. Matthew 12:38-39 (KJV) - Then certain of the scribes and of the Pharisees answered, saying, Master, we would see a sign from thee. But he answered and said unto them, An evil and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign; and there shall no sign be given to it, but the sign of the prophet Jonas. The above two passages demonstrate to us what both spiritual optimism looks like, and spiritual pessimism. But what really differentiates them? I believe the answer to this lies in the first verse. If you will have faith as a *mustard seed* you can move mountains. A mustard seed. In my book that has to be the single best demonstration of faith there is in the entire world. Why do I say that? Well, consider this. A seed is required in order for any kind of plant to grow, big or small. Without a seed they do not grow. When you plant it into the ground, do you not demonstrate optimism that the seed will germinate and grow? It also demonstrates faith that what you planted will grow as you expected it to. You don't plant an apple seed and expect a pear tree? Nor do you plant onion bulbs and expect grapes. That optimism says, "If I plant this seed I have faith that it will grow and become an apple tree, as that is the seed I planted." But what does pessimism say? "I'll believe it when I see it." That is belief after the fact. That's like walking up to an empty pot of dirt and doing nothing other than saying, "I will only believe that an apple tree will grow from this pot when I see one sprout from this dirt." How can an empty pot grow an apple tree if no seed has been planted? It can't. That's like faith. If we're a pessimist, then there is no seed in us from which faith can grow. That is why Jesus said to the scoffers that no sign would be given to them. Why? Well, if they had no seed of faith in them, would they have believed in Christ even if He'd stood before them in all His glory? Absolutely not! Why? Because they had no seed of faith in them. But as Christ demonstrated in the second passage, if even the tiniest seed of faith is planted, even the impossible is possible. How do I know? Because God demonstrated that fact to me not long ago in the most incredible way possible. It all began one afternoon while I was sitting in my apartment mulling over some things. My mind was milling through a bunch of thoughts that had me depressed and struggling a bit in my faith. I even posted somewhat to this effect on Facebook. Not long after the post a wonderful friend and Christian brother of mine called me and we talked about some things of faith, and trusting in God, and more. This lasted the better part of half an hour. Not thirty seconds after I hung up, while I was still sitting there contemplating this, my mother, who has dementia, came storming out of her room in an utter fit, crying and visibly upset. I don't know what set her off, as I hadn't done anything, but apparently she was feeling a bit spiritually overwhelmed and needed to go for a walk. The problem was, it was 30 something outside and absolutely not the kind of weather you'd want to go walking in dressed the way she was. I tried to chase after her, but I wasn't dressed for the weather either and had to return to the house to put on warmer cloths. By the time I got back out there she was nowhere to be found. So knowing how she likes to go for long walks, I simply went back to the house and waited on her. Fifteen minutes turned into thirty, which turned into an hour. By this time it was getting colder, darkness was on the horizon, and there was still no sign of her, no word, no trace, nothing. During this time I went looking for her in her usual spots, but found nothing. Along the way I ran into others from church and we began hunting. Nothing. Absolutely not a sign, a hint, a trace, nothing. So I called 911. We had the police department out looking for her, plus a number of others from my church. Still nothing. Not even a reassurance from God that she'd ever return. So in desperation I called my friend back and we prayed. Then as we were talking he said something to me that really caught me off guard. He told me to step out in faith, to praise and thank God for bringing mom home safely even though there wasn't even the slightest sign, hint, or cue that she would soon be there. I was stepping out entirely on blind faith. So I did just that. As I was walking out of the house to take the garbage out (don't ask me why I did, but I decided to dump the trash while I was waiting) I remember praising and thanking God for bringing my mom home safe and sound. That is what you would describe as spiritual optimism. And God rewarded that mustard seed of faith I gave to Him, because I didn't even make it the dumpster before she was found. But NOT BEFORE I stepped out in faith and thanked God for His blessing of her safe return BEFORE it ever happened, or even saw a hint or a sign that it would. Spiritual pessimism says, "I'll believe she'll come home when I see it." Spiritual optimism on the other hand says, "I thank you God for the blessing you are about to give me, even though my eyes see nothing that says that it will be given to me." That is the mustard seed that Christ talked about. When we ask, seek, knock, we are to do so in faith, trusting that God will deliver, even when there is no evidence that He will. That is the very core of what spiritual optimism is. Do we not also do the same with our salvation? Even though we haven't seen Heaven yet, if we are saved do we not still believe Him for it? Do we not trust God to some day bring us home to be with Him forever in Heaven? If we can trust Him for such a great thing as Salvation, can we not also trust Him for the littlest things? All it requires is that mustard seed of faith, that Spiritual Optimism that Christ so longs for us to have. |
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