This year has been full of unexpected twists and turns to say the least. Although it’s really easy to allow fear set in, there’s one thing you can’t let 2020 steal from you. It won’t be easy, but it will be worth it!
Transcript:
Hope seem to be a precious commodity today, there doesn’t seem to be a lot of it. All we see when we look around us in the world is despair, hand-wringing, depression, and bad news. Honestly, in fact, I was joking with my brother-in-law last week that even when you try to inject hope and optimism into the conversation, people seem to want to shout you down and push you away right now. There’s not even a desire to be hopeful it seems.
And for those who know me, you know that pessimism comes easy for me, specifically as it references the Indianapolis Colts and my fandom of NFL football. I always joke during the Colts season. In fact, if you follow my timeline on social media during the Colts games, you’ll see nothing but immense pessimism. I can assume a Colts loss even if they’re 20 points up going into the fourth quarter. And I’ve always joked with my wife over the years that pessimism, she’ll say, “why are you pessimistic, the Colts are 20 points up in the 4th quarter?” And I always tell her pessimism only has an upside! Either I get what I’m expecting, what I’ve already emotionally absorbed, or I get to be pleasantly surprised. So pessimism only has an upside!
Hope is risky, hope seems risky. And yet we as Believers in Jesus are called to be people of hope! We are called to be people of hope. In fact, I love this verse in Romans chapter 15, Romans 15:13, it says, “I pray that God the source of all hope” – God is the source of Hope – “will fill you completely with joy and with peace because you trust in him. Then you will overflow with confident hope through the power of the Holy Spirit.”
I want to overflow with confident hope because I trust in God, I trust in the source of all hope. And so I want to encourage you, the world is full of pessimism today, and there’s some bad news out there. There are some tough times and there’s some bad news out there, but we are people of hope! And so let’s continue to inject hope into the conversation even when no one wants to hear it, to point to Christ, the source of all hope.
If you’re in the church, if you are in the marketplace, whatever aspect or vocation you are called to in this life, be a person of hope! Don’t be like me during Colts season. Let’s be people of hope, let’s point people towards God, the source of all hope. Let’s be filled with joy, let’s be filled with peace, regardless of what’s going on around us. And let’s inject the hope that is ours into the world, non-stop, don’t give up, there is hope! Let’s hang on to it, and let’s proclaim it!
