Optimism
Notes
Transcript
Does anyone watch the news, listen to the radio, read the newspaper, or even participate in conversations during lunch or around the water cooler? How many of you would say that most of what you hear is negative? It seems like every time I listen to the news it’s negative. Jobs are vanishing, the economy is struggling, people are dying, the nation is divided, and the world is coming to an end!
Even if you try to ignore the negativity, it’s super easy to get sucked into. I can avoid the news for months, but then I hear one story or mention of something that makes me curious, and the next thing I know I’m going down rabbit trails trying to learn more about it. Every time, the only thing that I accomplish is making myself anxious and unsettled and concluding that the world has little to no hope of getting back to normal.
After hearing something on the news or listening to the political debates do you ever find yourself on edge emotionally? You are going through a normal day, but all of the sudden even the small things make you angry. It doesn’t take much to leave you discouraged.
We live in a negative world. Negativity and fear sells. Negativity and fear is persuasive. Negativity and fear can easily rule over our lives IF we let it. For the next few weeks we are going to take a look at being positive. This year negativity about the economy, politics, and who knows what else is going to be thrown at you like it’s candy and you are in Willy Wonka’s chocolate factory.
According to the news, the only thing we have to look forward to is negative. A negative outlook never leads to a positive life. So it is more important than ever for us to be positive in the face of negativity. How can we have a positive mindset? How can we be unshakably optimistic about the future?
Let’s start by talking about optimism. What is optimism?
Optimism is not a denial of reality.
Optimism is not a denial of reality.
It’s easy to think of an optimist as someone who just pretends nothing bad is happening. Being optimistic doesn’t mean that we pretend there is nothing bad in the news, that people aren’t sick and dying, or that the political climate in the world isn’t immoral and upside down.
There is a meme floating around on the internet known as the “everything is fine” meme. The house is on fire while you sit comfortably drinking coffee as if nothing is happening. Optimism is not denying reality. It’s not putting our heads in the sand and acting like everything is okay. It’s not simply having a positive attitude no matter what.
The reality is that we face very difficult challenges. When the house is on fire we need to act. Even though it’s a negative event, we can still be optimistic.
Optimism is not blind faith.
Optimism is not blind faith.
Blind faith is just wishful thinking. “The house is on fire, but it will stop on it’s own.” Blind faith just thinks positive thoughts and expects positive things to happen in return. That’s not optimism, that’s a naive hope. “Eh, I don’t need to do anything. It will all work out.” Optimism is not blind faith.
What is optimism? The dictionary definition is this…
Optimism: tendency to look on the more favorable side of events or conditions or to anticipate the best possible outcome
Simply put, optimism is confidence about the future or a successful outcome. In his letter to the Romans, Paul talks about our future in a very optimistic way. In fact, he essentially adds spiritual weight to the definition of optimism.
28 And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.
As an optimistic Christian, we KNOW that our God is involved and working in our lives for our future good. If you are taking notes, we could define optimism this way…
Spiritual Optimism is the unwavering expectation that our loving God is working in every situation for our future good.
In ALL things. Every step forward and every jump backward. Every financial success and every financial failure. With your best friend and with that difficult customer, co-worker, or boss. In the irritating inconvenience and in the crushing disappointment. Even a negative situation holds the potential to produce a positive purpose!
Optimism is the unwavering expectation that our living God is working in every situation for good.
What do you think about? Think about your thoughts for a second. On a regular day, what consumes your mind? How do you see your future? If the majority of your thoughts are consumed with negativity, worry, fear, and anxiety, you should memorize this…
What consumes your mind controls you life.
Whatever you think about tends to direct your life. The life that you have is generally a reflection of the thoughts that you think. Your life is generally always moving in the direction of your strongest thoughts. Proverbs tells us this. As a person thinks within himself, so he becomes.
If you tend to think about how bad the world is and how much you hate your circumstances, you’re probably not gonna get to the end of the day and go, “Wow, that was the best day ever!” Your life generally moves in the direction of your strongest thoughts. That’s why…
The quality of your life will never exceed the quality of your thoughts.
If our thoughts are always negative, how can we expect our lives to be any different? I love this quote by Winston Churchill about optimism…
“A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty.” - Winston Churchill
Where an optimist sees opportunity, hope, and future success, a pessimist sees difficulty and failure. There are two main reasons for that. If your thoughts are always consumed with negative thoughts, you might be viewing negative events as personal and permanent…
Pessimists tend to view negative events as personal and permanent.
You might be making the negative thoughts personal by saying, “It’s probably my fault. I’m no good. I am such a failure. I’m not worthy. I just can’t do it right. I always blow it.”
You might be making the negative thoughts permanent by saying, “Bad things ALWAYS happen to me. Things are NEVER going to change.”
Here is what a pessimist needs to realize…
Being content, being satisfied, being blessed, being optimistic isn’t a state of affairs—It’s a state of mind.
What consumes your mind controls you life.
According to Psychology Today, “Optimists are likely to see the causes of failure or negative experiences as temporary rather than permanent, specific rather than global, and external rather than internal. Such a perspective enables optimists to more easily see the possibility of change.”
What consumes your thoughts? Is it faith in God for your future, or is it fear? What consumes your thoughts controls your life. So if fear, dread, or negative thoughts control your life it’s time to starve those thoughts. What you feed grows, and what you stave dies.
If reading the news causes you to struggle, then limit your consumption of the news and read scripture. Grow your faith, starve your fear. Don’t let negative thoughts consume your mind when you could meditate on God’s truths.
If anyone had good reasons to be consumed by negative thoughts, it could have easily been Paul. Before he became a follower of Christ, Paul killed Christians. Then he did a total 180, so he was probably hated on both sides of the isle. He was imprisoned multiple times. Five times he endured 40 lashes. Three times he was beaten with rods. He was stoned, and not the kind of stoned you can get with a medical card. He was shipwrecked, betrayed, beaten and left for dead!
As if the difficulties he faced weren’t enough, he struggled in his own mind too. He called himself a slave to sin and said that He wants to do what is right, but he doesn’t do it. Instead he does what he hates. He doesn’t do the good that he wants to do, instead he does what is wrong even though he doesn’t want to. Then he says this…
18 Yet what we suffer now is nothing compared to the glory he will reveal to us later.
All of these horrible things aren’t worth comparing to the coming glory! How are you hurting? what have you lost? What negative thoughts consume your mind? None of it is worth comparing to what God has in store for you. With our future hope in mind, we can change the way we think about the struggles we face today. We can say, “you know what, this may suck, but it’s making me stronger.”
The struggle I’m in today is producing the strength I need tomorrow!
It’s funny to me that modern science claims that faith in God is out dated and archaic, because they are still learning “new” things that scripture has taught for thousands of years. We are talking about a scriptural truth about changing your mindset in the middle of difficult times. Just this week I learned of a recent Harvard study that discovered this.
In the study, the researchers gave rewards to children who love to draw. After the children finished a drawing they would turn it in for a gold star. After a while, they stopped giving the children the gold stars. Without the reward, the children no longer enjoyed drawing.
They found that when you do something for a reward you will lose interest in the activity itself and without reward you will no longer participate in the activity. Their conclusion was that if you can change your mindset to enjoy the activity, whether it is good or bad, difficult or easy, you will be more successful at it.
They used exercise and dopamine production as an example. Dopamine is your bodies natural reward system. If you convince yourself that you enjoy the pain and the struggle of exercising, your mind will produce up to ten times more dopamine during the activity than it would at the end of the activity when you may have given yourself a reward for completing it.
Paul is saying the same thing, only the reward we get by leaning on God in the middle of our struggles and letting Him make us stronger is far more reliable and long term. It’s the unwavering expectation that our loving God is working in every situation for our future good.
God provides everything we need to starve our fears, feed our faith, and renew our thoughts, because our lives are always moving in the direction of our strongest thoughts.
If your pessimistic mind is still trying to convince you that you can’t do it because you are too weak, you are right. Do you feel a little weak? Discouraged? Overwhelmed? Exhausted? You’ve been told that you just have to suck it up and be better, but you don’t know how.
Contrary to what you may have been told, God doesn’t help those who help themselves. God helps those who need His help! The weak, the broken, the desperate. Paul says that when we were saved, God gave us this hope for the future glory, but we must wait with patience and confidence. If you are too weak, there is great news…
Romans 8:26 (NIV)
26 In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness…
When you feel incapable, unsure, uncertain, and worn out, there is great news! You are never alone! God’s Spirit, the same Spirit that raised Christ from the dead, is with you! His Spirit is with you and helps you in your weakness.
When you’re hurting—He’s your comfort!
Confused—Your Guide!
Discouraged—Your Hope!
Anxious—Your Peace!
Weak—Your Strength!
28 And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.
In the face of difficulty, it’s easy to lower expectations so that you won’t be disappointed. But I want to challenge you to RAISE your expectations in the power, presence, and faithfulness of God. Raise your expectations of yourself and raise your expectations of God in the middle of your difficulties. Just as the Harvard study found, even though it’s difficult and seems impossible, find your reward in the middle of the difficult trial. Learn to find and lean on God in those moments. Let Him be your reward and rediscover what it means to be positive and overflowing with optimism.
Why set your sights on “back to normal” when God has “better than normal” in store for you. God wants to build stronger marriages. Closer families. He wants us to share His deeper love. Greater generosity. He is growing us into bolder Christians. Through Christ, He makes the light coming from His Church brighter! He is making the harvest bigger!
38 And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love. 39 No power in the sky above or in the earth below—indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord.
No matter where I go, my God is there. No matter what I do, my God still loves me. No matter what happens to me, my God is for me!
Our optimism is in the unwavering expectation that our loving God is working in every situation for our future good.