Then I saw ‘a new heaven and a new earth,’ for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, ‘Look! God’s dwelling-place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. “He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death” or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.’ He who was seated on the throne said, ‘I am making everything new!’ Then he said, ‘Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.’
Revelation 21:1-5 NIVUK
In December 2021, the Financial Times published the result of a survey. It revealed that fifty-five percent of the people surveyed were pessimistic about their future. Fewer than a third believed that Britain would be a better place to live in ten years’ time.
The reality is that Britain is not the only nation dealing with wave after wave of depression, gloom and pessimism. We have lived through some of the darkest, most anxious times in modern history. We have not emerged unscathed.
But yet in other countries their general outlook on life is so very different.
This year I was truly privileged to visit a small, but vital, church in my wife’s home village in Barangay Libas, Merida, Leyte, Philippines.
Some perspective would help. These people live in an area where there are not many jobs. Some of them will be farmers, where their income and survival is intrinsically linked to the vagaries of nature. Others receive state pensions that are, quite frankly, unliveable. They live in a seismically active area where, every year, they run the risk of taking a direct hit from deadly typhoons.
And yet they are happy. Listen to this, Christians in Western nations: they are happy. Their church service is joyful, enthusiastic, sometimes emotional, warm and very open and friendly.
Yet, by our standards, they are less well off. They lack many of the resources and opportunities that we take for granted. And they are happy.
A passing visit to a Western church service will quickly tell you that we have ‘resting miserable face’. We aren’t happy. We are exposed to fewer risks. Most of us have a stable income. We have educational and development opportunities that far outstrip the developing world. We live in peace, safety and security. Yet we are not happy.
Why?
I believe there are three, interlinked reasons. Firstly, expectations: we expect more from life and suffer from disappointment when it doesn’t arrive.
Secondly, faith. It is telling that countries where faith in God (I mean not just believing that He exists, but that He is fundamentally good and working for our good) is being, or has been, eroded, people are less happy. And the reason for that is obvious. If they do not have God looking after them, then they are responsible for achieving it themselves. This sounds fine, but then adverse events happen that are beyond their knowledge or control, and all of a sudden they are not happy.
This inevitably leads to an erosion of the third reason: hope. Put simply, people are sad, morose and downbeat if they lose hope of their situation ever changing.
We Christians ought never to suffer in any of these areas. The fact that we do points to a decline in our spirituality and faith in God.
Having a hopeful, optimistic outlook on life that longs for the future is so important, not least for out mental health. But if we’ve lost it, how do we get it back?
These three simple points will help us recover the energy and drive and vision we once had.
Firstly, God was good in the past.
The Jews were often reminded of this in their song book, the Psalms:
Then I thought, ‘To this I will appeal: the years when the Most High stretched out his right hand. I will remember the deeds of the Lord; yes, I will remember your miracles of long ago. I will consider all your works and meditate on all your mighty deeds.’
Psalms 77:10-12 NIVUK
Remember the wonders he has done, his miracles, and the judgments he pronounced, you his servants, the descendants of Abraham, his chosen ones, the children of Jacob.
Psalms 105:5-6 NIVUK
I remember the days of long ago; I meditate on all your works and consider what your hands have done.
Psalms 143:5 NIVUK
Remembering what God had done for them in the past was an important way for the Jews to buttress their faith.
It’s also something we must do, especially when life is hard. We must focus, like the Jews do, on the times when He has looked after us in our lives; when He has led us through difficult times; when He has comforted us.
If you are a young Christian and you don’t have much of a history with God, you can remember what God has done for other people, both people you know and people in the Bible – after all, it’s the same God you worship.
Remembering our past helps us look forward with hope because Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever (Hebrews 13:8).
But we must also remember that God is good in the present. That is, God is working for our good right now, regardless of what we are going through.
In the midst of severe persecution, Paul wrote these words to the church in Rome:
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.
Romans 8:28 NIVUK
‘In all things’ means exactly what it says: in every situation, be it good or bad. And from the Greek word that is translated as ‘all things’ we get the word ‘synergy’. In other words, Paul is telling the Romans that our present situation is a tool in God’s hand to work for our good.
What an incredible truth!
What would happen if we actually started to believe it?
That is why Paul tells the Thessalonians to rejoice and give thanks in every situation (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18). That is why he tells the Philippians to rejoice in the Lord always (Philippians 4:4). That is why he modelled this by rejoicing and singing praise while in the middle of a jail cell (Acts 16:25). It seems so utterly incongruous, so completely out of place, and yet it isn’t when we realise that Paul believed God was using every situation – even ones that appeared to be completely negative – for his good.
Now, I’m a realist. I know there are situations which appear to be completely ‘not good’: unsalvageable, unredeemable, beyond rescue. There are situations in life when, humanly speaking, we do not see how any good can come of them.
I know because I have been in them. After attending my own father’s funeral – at the age of 48 years old, having died of Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma – and at the same time watching the missionary job I loved so much fade on the horizon, I remember praying to God, ‘I know you use every situation for my good. I believe it. But I just can’t see how you’re going to do it now.’
Sometimes we don’t see it. Sometimes we have to take it on faith. Sometimes we have to admit that it might take until eternity for us to figure it out.
But not for one second does it mean that it isn’t true.
As well as God being good in the past and the present, a third reason for Christians to be optimistic is that God will be good in the future.
The word ‘hope’ is pretty key in the Bible. I would hope that would be clear to any reader or student. However, it is used in two senses:
And one thing more: prepare a guest room for me, because I hope to be restored to you in answer to your prayers.
Philemon 1:22 NIVUK
I hope in the Lord Jesus to send Timothy to you soon, that I also may be cheered when I receive news about you.
Philippians 2:19 NIVUK
I hope to see you soon, and we will talk face to face.
3 John 1:14 NIVUK
This is a type of hope that I would call uncertain hope. It is the type of hope when we plan and look forward to something happening, but we have no clear assurance that it actually will. For example, as a football fan, I hope that Scotland will get out of the first round of the Euro 2024 tournament. Their draw has been relatively kind. But I don't know for sure if they will actually do it.
This is the type of hope most keenly expressed nowadays.
However, there is a second type of hope in the Bible, and that is a certain hope. This is a hope based on a transaction or a promise. For example:
And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.
Romans 5:5 NIVUK
And you also were included in Christ when you heard the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation. When you believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession – to the praise of his glory.
Ephesians 1:13-14 NIVUK
In other words, God, who cannot lie or break His promise, tells us that if we believe in Him we will have eternal life and our suffering will end. However, understanding our naturally doubting nature, He gives us His Holy Spirit as a deposit to guarantee what He has promised.
So His Word is doubly certain and doubly reliable.
But what does this mean?
I once read a quote that an Ethiopian woman had held onto when her country was plunged into violent revolution and her family were forced to flee. The quote was ‘This too shall pass’.
But here’s the thing: if our future is uncertain, we have no assurance that it actually will, or that if it does pass, something worse isn’t going to happen. We have no assurance that there is a light at the end of the tunnel.
However, when we believe in God and His promises, when we perceive them as sure and certain and trust our future to them, we have an absolute rock-solid assurance that things will get better, that there is a light at the end of the tunnel, that the bad things will pass.
How?
Because we believe the Word of God:
Then I saw ‘a new heaven and a new earth,’ for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, ‘Look! God’s dwelling-place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. “He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death” or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.’ He who was seated on the throne said, ‘I am making everything new!’ Then he said, ‘Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.’
Revelation 21:1-5 NIVUK
And that is why Christians ought to be the most optimistic people on the planet.
But not so optimistic that they withdraw from the challenges of our age. We have a secure past, present and future because God is good, all the time.
At the same time, though, we give ourselves to work towards resolving challenges with wars, reconciliation, the environment, poverty, and so on because we know there is a solution – we just need to find it
As we walk through life, we often see billboards that try to sell us goods or services. Every Christian is a billboard for the Gospel. But what does that billboard say? Does it say that church is simply another place where miserable people gather to be miserable together? Or does it say that the Gospel works because, despite the challenges we all face, we are resilient and optimistic because we know they will not last forever?
And does it show on our faces?
Prayer
Lord Jesus, life gets me down sometimes. But help Me to always be hopeful and optimistic and believing in You. Save me from complaining and a negative attitude. Help me to be someone who makes Your Gospel attractive. Amen.
Questions
1. ‘Christians should be the most optimistic people on earth’. Why? Why is this important?
2. When is God good? When has God been good in your life? Is He still good?
3. How can you better show your optimism to others?
Comments