Optimism in the face of a Pandemic

I have been accused many times of being an Optimist.

As a supervisor of a team it is beneficial that I keep an optimistic view if I want to motivate people.

Now enter the Corona-virus Epidemic, and Optimism can be seen taking a back seat to many other feelings like concern, worry, anxiety and even fear.  There is obviously good reason for these feelings and they are all totally valid, and they all push optimism to the back burner.

I was texting with a good friend recently and one of the messages really hung up in my thoughts.  He asked me: "We are going to be OK , aren't we?"

Now will optimism be the right choice here?  It had me thinking long and hard about my reply.

I think about all the people who have said, Optimism is naive.  Better to tell the cold hard facts, than some pie in the sky affirmation.  No one wants to hear, its gonna be OK or things always look darkest before the dawn while they are worried about today and are bombarded with stories of various degrees of grim from many sources.  

So is Optimism the right approach?

The answer is YES.  Absolutely YES, because Optimism is far from naive.

You see some people confuse "positivity" the "everything will Be OK, or "light at the end of the tunnel" with Optimism when they are really two different things.

Positivity falls mostly in the realm of denying reality to paint a better picture. "Everything is fine"  or "We are all gonna be just fine" and "don't worry Be Happy!"

Optimism on the other hand, as defined by Author and speaker Simon Sinek, is the belief that the future will be positive while not denying the present.

We can be confident in the future as Christians because we know God knows:

Mark 6: 25-34 talks about how we need not worry.  Look around us and see that all living things have have what they need by God, and God would not provide us any less.

So Mark 6:34 sums it up:

"Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own."

So I texted my friend back:

Yes, I think we will be OK.  We are going though an unprecedented rough time, it's tough, its hard and it is scary, but we will come out of his OK, and we will do it together.

Optimism is not Naive, it is confidence in our future despite our present.  A confidence that for ME, is provided by God.

HUMILITY OF LOVE

Romans 5:8 But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

John 4:8 Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.

John 3:16 This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters.

The Bible says, we must love one another.  Love our God with our heart and soul and love all others the way I love you.  This is the good news Jesus brought the world.  It is the New covenant to the whole world.

This is so big that Matthew 22:40 shows us When Jesus spoke to the disciples regarding the first and second greatest commands, he explained that "All the Law and the Prophets depend on these two commands" 

This sounds great.  This IS great news.  But…. there is one problem.

People are just…. Irritating sometimes.  I read an unattributed quote “I love mankind…. Its People I can’t stand.”  To me sounds about right.

Loving people is HARD, Yet this is what Jesus commands of us.  It’s the ONE JOB he gives us before he commits the ultimate act of love, by dying for us so that we might live again in the family of God.

As Christians, we read the word of God and we apply many of the principles Jesus teaches to our lives. We experience the wisdom of his parables and see how we can apply it to our lives.  This one though…Love EVERYBODY? 

When we demonstrate Christian love, it distinguishes believers from the rest of the world. Jesus tells us "By this [love] all people will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another" (John 13:35). 

But with this, every day I struggle, with this command to love everyone. I mean I have coworkers, I GO to the grocery store, I commute into Massachusetts  every day.  I have many challenges.  I find myself every day completely missing the mark on this command.

We are never going to be perfect this is absolute. But, I fear the day Jesus realizes that I haven’t loved “everyone” the way that he commanded.  That He will see me as the fraud that I am.  I go to church on Sunday and the I swear at driver on Monday.  I get annoyed by the person blocking my lane at Walmart on Wednesday. 

We are NOT alone in these feelings and I want to thank Brant Hansen and his TED Talk that brought something to my attention that I otherwise might have missed.

There is an example of love that Jesus shows us which is the blueprint for the love we are talking about here.

In the book of John chapter 13 we see the chapter end with Jesus speaking of the new covenant and predicts Peters Denial of him. Beginning in verse 31

31 When he was gone, Jesus said, “Now the Son of Man is glorified, and God is glorified in him. 

32 If God is glorified in him, God will glorify the Son in himself, and will glorify him at once. 

33 “My children, I will be with you only a little longer. You will look for me, and just as I told the Jews, so I tell you now: Where I am going, you cannot come. 

34 “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. 

35 By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” 

36 Simon Peter asked him, “Lord, where are you going?” Jesus replied, “Where I am going, you cannot follow now, but you will follow later.” 

37 Peter asked, “Lord, why can’t I follow you now? I will lay down my life for you.” 

38 Then Jesus answered, “Will you really lay down your life for me? Very truly I tell you, before the rooster crows, you will disown me three times!

Peter was caught, the shoe drops, and Jesus calls him out for what he knows Peter will do.

But that is where the chapter ends.  When we return to chapter 14, it is THEN we see Jesus say:

1 “Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God; believe also in me. 

2 My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? 

3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. 

4 You know the way to the place where I am going.”

And if it had not been pointed out to me, this odd placement of a chapter break, I might have missed it.

Jesus tells Peter, YES, you will deny me.  You Will fall and you will fail.  But

 “Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God; believe also in me.  My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? “

My biggest fear is that God we see me for the fraud I am.

ME: “Jesus, I know I struggle to demonstrate Christian love.”

JESUS: I Know, I know you struggle, but dDo not let your hearts be troubled I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am

ME: Jesus I struggle with my vices and I try hard, but I Fall, and I fail.

JESUS: I Know, I know. But Do not let your hearts be troubled. I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.

ME: Jesus I Get Jealous, I get Angry, I look at people and say I don’t Know if I can love you.

JESUS: I Know, I know. But Do not let your hearts be troubled. I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.

Yes, People suck,

Yes, we will fall, and we will fail.

But we Still LOVE THEM. 

Even if they annoy us, we love them,

or cut us off, we  love them,

or block the ice cream isle, We LOVE them

"By this [love] all people will know that you are My disciples  

ME: But God, I am trying, but I will never be perfect.

JESUS: I Know, I know you are not,  But my love IS. 

FAITH IT TILL YOU FEEL IT

I was having a conversation with a friend and a topic arose that I spoke about once, about people like me who do not feel the spirit of God the way others do.  Those of us who don’t get the feeling, or the warm fever during worship.  And we talked about how that is OK, but the question arose …How does god know I am doing what I am supposed to do to get into heaven, if I can’t feel him how I can tell.  This is when the comment was made “Fake it till you Make it.”  Yes, It was in jest and not intended to be dishonoring, but it brought up an interesting point.  A question that, if you are on the fence or you are not sure if you are enough to deserve Gods love, can mean the difference between moving to him, or staying where you are.

It reminded me of a story I read about a youth pastor who went so far as to create a pie chart of guidelines to follow.  Go to church, read your bible, pray…essentially the 8 things you do to get to heaven. The kids Loved it, OMG we have instructions, we have a guide! But that leader went on to explain why he would regret that decision and wanted at one point to find all these young people and apologize to them.

We all wonder every day, are we doing enough?  Are we messing up too much?  If we follow Jesus, we worry so much about losing our salvation and if we are thinking about following him, we hesitate, wondering if we can be enough.  

The bible tells a different story.  

It is much less complicated; you see Salvation comes from Obedience.  

Here is where it gets interesting.  Obedience is a word a lot of people fear.  To a lot of people, it means letting someone rule you, or control you.  Which could draw a lot of people from God if they don’t understand what obedience to God really is.  I want to share with you one of the best examples of this obedience in action.  In the Book of Acts we find a story.  A story that finds Peter in Prison shortly after Herod beheaded James.

12 It was about this time that King Herod arrested some who belonged to the church, intending to persecute them. ² He had James, the brother of John, put to death with the sword. ³ When he saw that this met with approval among the Jews, he proceeded to seize Peter also. This happened during the Festival of Unleavened Bread. ⁴ After arresting him, he put him in prison, handing him over to be guarded by four squads of four soldiers each. Herod intended to bring him out for public trial after the Passover.

⁵ So Peter was kept in prison, but the church was earnestly praying to God for him.

⁶ The night before Herod was to bring him to trial, Peter was sleeping between two soldiers, (sleeping?)

bound with two chains, and sentries stood guard at the entrance. ⁷ Suddenly an angel of the Lord appeared, and a light shone in the cell. He struck Peter on the side and woke him up. “Quick, get up!” he said, and the chains fell off Peter’s wrists.

Make note here.  Notice what happened here.  Peter rose, then the chains fell off.  It did not say Peter waited for the chains to fall off to get up.

⁸ Then the angel said to him, “Put on your clothes and sandals.” And Peter did so. “Wrap your cloak around you and follow me,” the angel told him. ⁹ Peter followed him out of the prison, but he had no idea that what the angel was doing was really happening; he thought he was seeing a vision. ¹⁰ They passed the first and second guards and came to the iron gate leading to the city. It opened for them by itself, and they went through it. When they had walked the length of one street, suddenly the angel left him.

¹¹ Then Peter came to himself and said, “Now I know without a doubt that the Lord has sent his angel and rescued me from Herod’s clutches and from everything the Jewish people were hoping would happen.”

You see obedience comes when you trust God enough to do what he might be asking of you, even when you have no idea what the outcome may be.  Don’t wait for your chains to fall off before you move.  Don’t pray “God if you just take this away or help me get that, I will be able to Obey”  

“Quick, get up!” he said, and the chains fell off Peter’s wrists.

Fake it till you Make it?  Not quite.  When it come to our salvation it sounds more like  Faith it till you feel it! Try it for yourselves.  Do you feel like there is something you need to do, something you have been putting off that you know has to be done, something God might be asking you to do that scares you or makes you uncomfortable?    

Quick get UP, he rose….then.. the chains fell off.

It's Ok....Just Move Closer

I am new to this whole Blogging thing and  I am admittedly nervous as you see:

I am what you might refer to as a Baby Christian.  Recently returned church and to Christianity.  

They say the wages of sin is Death and that death comes by our separation from fellowship with our holy father. Thanks to the sacrifice of his son Jesus, who died on the cross for OUR sins, coming back into the family of my heavenly father has been a true blessing. But it took me some time to finally figure it all out.

I remember at first, people asking me what it was like.  What did it feel like coming back to God through Jesus Christ? It was hard for me to come up with a description. They would talk about hearing testimonies of some folks who heard god speak to them and his wise words guided them, so amazing. I remember hearing about some people, how they were in church one day and they felt this ENERGY rush through them, this pouring in of the Holy Spirit into their hearts…… what a glorious feeling that must be. But for me…yeah..…not so much.  I personally have never heard the voice of God, and I have yet to experience that overtaking of the Holy Spirit. 

Since the Original sin, in the garden of Eden All god ever wanted was his family back.  He longs to have a relationship with us.  He doesn’t just want us to encounter him in a podcast, or in a church pew, or even in this message.  He wants us to live in Habitual fellowship with Him, he wants to love his children. And when I came back to Christianity THAT is what I wanted that is what I craved.  And so I turned to the bible, and to the church where I read of all the amazing stories of the things Jesus did for others in his ministry and of the things he would teach the masses about how to live. I heard the Amazing testimony of some of my congregation of their transformations and I was excited!!!  But was there something I was missing….I wasn’t getting those warm and fuzzies everyone was talking about, was I broken……was I just not getting it.

I mean I am a baby Christian right…..HOW do I do this.  

I know what the bible stories are saying, but what does this Look like, I mean, I am in the real world right? So, I followed some advice the pastor had given one Sunday, I turned to the scripture and began to pray and ask god to show me what I need to do. It was not long after that, I found myself reading the book of James, essentially A letter written to the 12 tribes of God’s chosen people scattered around the world after the fall of Jerusalem by the biological  brother of Jesus. In this book, is where it all started to make sense:

James Chapter  4 verse 7

Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.

Yes I see that but HOW…….

And as I read on is where it hit me, James Tells us starting in Verse 8

Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Grieve, mourn and wail. Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.

Come NEAR to God? .. You mean ….Move closer?….is it REALLY that simple…. And if it is……what does that look like?

• Move closer……….. You know when we feel a certain way about someone because of something we have experienced in the past, maybe we feel like they are not like us……..Maybe …..We choose let that go and give them a shot.
• Move Closer………… When we just feel the need to say something we KNOW we will regret……Stop…..and don’t say it.
• Move Closer ………. That person we KNOW we need to forgive, that person who hurt us and has caused us so much grief….we forgive them.
• Move closer………. All those thing we beat ourselves up about, all the stuff we throw in our way (those self-fulfilling prophecies)….. we realize we can’t continue this and we unburden our hearts and bring those things to God

MOVE CLOSER……..  Jesus makes it abundantly clear what this looks like in John 13:34-35 when he offers this to his disciples at the last supper:

A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another.  By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”

You don’t hear god’s voice in your ear?  You don’t get that warm and fuzzy we talked about?  It is OK: 

Ephesians 2:4-5 tells us:

But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved.

We may not all get that spiritual experience, but we ALL get to return to a relationship with our heavenly father, It is a gift to all of us, EVERYONE, thanks to Jesus who died for OUR sins so that we might be brought back to fellowship with God. We just need to claim it.

Come near to God ……  Just….Move Closer…….and he WILL come near to YOU.

Hope.....Moves us forward

Hope …..I was wanting to talk about HOPE today.

                                   

For many of us today Hope is something… fleeting, something we “hold on to, but never comes. For others, it’s a Feeling,  a motivation to feel good. You know we ALL  we hope for stuff: Good weather, a good turnout, crispy bacon, to win the big game, good results, a good grade, a clean MRI, We keep our fingers crossed and “hope” that everything will go the way we want it to.

           

I remember 15 years ago, I was in a time in my life when I was really struggling.  Financially, emotionally and spiritually.  And I clearly remember walking to work at 4 am in the -25f cold and I would spend cold, quiet this time  doing 2 things.  Avoiding Cars because the sidewalks were not plowed (in the summer I Would be avoiding skunks) and fantasizing about things in my life being different. A life without hardships.  Winning the lottery. A raise or promotion. Our own home with a yard I could mow. I created a world that I ‘wanted” to be in. It was a great distraction. You see, I kept this “Hope” because I feared going home every day.  Going home to the possibility that my power might be cut off again or I would have an eviction notice on my door, again.  Or maybe this time, my family might have just packed up and left.

                       

We use hope as a stop gap, as a replacement for reality sometimes. A feeling factory to keep us from the real pain we sometimes need to feel. Nowadays, for many of us, hope lacks a sense of certainty. It is more like a wish—something that we want to happen but have no way of knowing that it ultimately will. 

Hope in our view, is fragile, Reality?  Life doesn’t always turn out the way we want it to.  When life is disappointing, our optimism is replaced by feelings of discouragement and hopelessness.  Ultimately this path takes us to a place where we LOSE hope and believe that there is nothing in which we can confidently hope.

So let’s look at the first Christmas because this was the landscape of the world at the time when Jesus entered it. For Israel, there was little of anything to look forward to yet alone HOPE for.. The once proud nation was now a under the thumb of the Roman Empire. The common person lived under the crushing burdens of the rules and laws of the religious establishment. Centuries before, they had been promised a deliverer who would restore Israel to its former glory, but it had never happened.

And then…..Christmas…..True Hope!

Into this sense of hopelessness, was born our true HOPE, our savior Jesus Christ.  But the hard fact of that first Christmas was that not many in the world at that time realized the hope that had been introduced.

You see the restoration that was brought by the sacrifice of his son for our sins was God’s Christmas Present to mankind. Jesus is real hope. Hope for our redemption. Hope for a bright future—forever. Hope for a return to fellowship and relationship with our heavenly father in daily living. Hope that would enable us to forget the past and set our sights on stuff that doesn’t disappoint. A hope that, because of Jesus, is a certainty and not just another wish that will always eventually crash on the jagged shores of reality.

What hope really is?  

It’s a living hope. Promised to us by the sacrifice of our lord Jesus for our sins.  It is certainly something we can count on because it is real.  Hope is the Belief God has a plan for you.  The comfort of knowing if you look to him, he will provide. 

It is an Anchor and not a looking glass.

It’s a confidence. It raises our chins and holds our eyes higher.  Hope looks forward. 

It is the tool we use to breakthrough and tear down doubt, and fear and hopelessness and replace it with Action.  Hope looks forward. 

It is the evidence we hold in argument against ourselves when we try to convince ourselves that we can’t or we won’t or we shouldn’t.  Hope looks forward.

It is the filter through which we see our options and our path. Hope looks forward

Psalm 42:5 MSG Why are you down in the dumps, dear soul? Why are you crying the blues? Fix my eyes on God— soon I’ll be praising again. He puts a smile on my face. He’s my God.

ISAIAH 40:31 MSG He energizes those who get tired, gives fresh strength to those who may have given up. For even young people tire and drop out, young folk in their prime stumble and fall. But those who wait upon God get fresh strength. They spread their wings and soar like eagles, They run and don’t get tired, they walk and don’t lag behind

1 Peter 1:3-5 MSG . What a God we have! And how fortunate we are to have him, this Father of our Master Jesus! Because Jesus was raised from the dead, we’ve been given a brand-new life and have everything to live for, including a future in heaven—and the future starts now! God is keeping careful watch over us and the future. The Day is coming when you’ll have it all—life healed and whole.

You see, God saw the need in his people…the need for restoration, the need for Hope….and Jesus is hope. This Hope comes with Grace.  It is the true meaning of Christmas. The true gift of Jesus to mankind.   To you….to me, to EVERYONE.  We don’t find it… it’s there.  

I picture it like this, imagine Jesus on an infomercial.  He is on the screen with that headset mic telling us how we all need the grace he is offering…It Slices, it dices it forgives and it redeems…….but wait there is MORE. 

That more is HOPE.  It comes with grace, and its FREE, you don’t even have to pay additional shipping and handling.

                                   

For most of our lives, Hope has always been that glimmer, that “possibility”, that “if only” that, MAYBE……

But you see…..true Hope is tangible, it is living and it lives in us.  It guides us and shows us where to go through Jesus if we just choose to accept HIS gift of grace.   Always remember the original Christmas gift of Jesus, his life, his word and what his life was given for.  Hope moves us forward

Colossians 3:1-2.

So if you’re serious about living this new resurrection life with Christ, act like it. Pursue the things over which Christ presides. Don’t shuffle along, eyes to the ground, absorbed with the things right in front of you. Look up, and be alert to what is going on around Christ—that’s where the action is. See things from his perspective. 

HOPE moves us forward….you coming with me?