The Gospel Union: The relentless optimist

Monday, March 07, 2005

The relentless optimist

I read through Hebrews recently and was amazed by the relentless optimism of the "heroes of faith" in chapter 11. Granted, the word "relentless" doesn't usually have a positive connotation. But what word better explains the persistent faith of people like Noah, Abraham, Moses, and the others listed in that chapter? And what is faith if it is not optimism about the goodness of God and his promises?

The faith of these heroes was such that it never dimmed through the trials and difficulties life threw their way. Sometimes the problems they faced were of their own making, like Abraham telling his wife to lie about who she was. Other times, their problems were from those around them who were not quite as optimistic about things, such as when Moses was confronted by his fellow Israelites who didn't really trust his leadership.

But the faithful were relentless in looking to the bright side, focusing their thoughts and actions, not on the possibility of failure and retreat, but on the greater promises God had in store for them. When challenges and rough spots arose, their humanity caused them to misstep at times, but they always fell back into line with relentless consistency.

It was said of Abraham that he saw in the distance a better city, a more enduring one, without ever reaching it in this life. What was Abraham's faith, if not relentless optimism?

Hebrews 11:8-12 - By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to the place which he would receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going. By faith he dwelt in the land of promise as in a foreign country, dwelling in tents with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise; for he waited for the city which has foundations, whose builder and maker is God. ... These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off were assured of them.... (NKJV)

Abraham embraced the promise of God to the very end, never even receiving it in this life. He remained, I am convinced, eminently positive until the end, knowing that this life is merely a blip on the radar screen of eternity. He knew God would not let him down, and he acted with confidence accordingly.

Therefore what?

Hebrews 11:16 - ...Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for He has prepared a city for them. (NKJV)

That's a pretty nice consequence of our relentless faith, that insatiably positive zeal for God that should be overflowing from our lives. God is not ashamed to be called our God when we live that way. It just so happens that this overflowing enthusiasm is infectious, making it one of the most effective tools of an encourager:

2 Corinthians 9:2 - For I know your eagerness to help...and your enthusiasm has stirred most of them to action. (NKJV)

Hebrews 10:24 - And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works. (NKJV)

Amen to that!

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Choice scriptures:

Romans 15:1-7 - "We who are strong ought to bear with the failings of the weak and not to please ourselves. Each of us should please his neighbor for his good, to build him up...May the God who gives endurance and encouragement give you a spirit of unity among yourselves as you follow Christ Jesus, so that with one heart and mouth you may glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Accept one another, then, just as Christ accepted you, in order to bring praise to God."
(NIV)

2 Thessalonians 3:1 - "Finally, brothers, pray for us that the message of the Lord may spread rapidly and be honored, just as it was with you."
(NIV)

Romans 1:16 - "I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile."
(NIV)

John 17:20-21 - "My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me."
(NIV)

Choice quotes:

Alexander Campbell - "We will not hearken to those questions which gender strife, nor discuss them at all. If a person says such is his private opinion, let him have it as his private opinion; but lay no stress upon it; and if it be a wrong private opinion, it will die a natural death much sooner than if you attempt to kill it."

Alexander Campbell - "But men cannot give up their opinions, and therefore, they can never unite, says one. We do not ask them to give up their opinions--we ask them only not to impose them upon others. Let them hold their opinions, but let them hold them as private property. The faith is public property; opinions are, and always have been private property. Men have foolishly attempted to make the deductions of some great minds the common measure of all Christians. Hence the deductions of a Luther, and a Calvin, and a Wesley, have been the rule and measure of all who coalesce under the names of these leaders. It is cruel to excommunicate a man because of the imbecility of his intellect."

Alexander Campbell - "Dear sir, this plan of making our own nest, and fluttering over our own brood; of building our own tent, and of confining all goodness and grace to our noble selves and the "elect few" who are like us, is the quintessence of sublimated pharisaism. The old Pharisees were but babes in comparison to the modern: and the longer I live, and the more I reflect upon God and man--heaven and earth--the Bible and the world--the Redeemer and his church--the more I am assured that all sectarianism is the offspring of hell; and that all differences about words, and names, and opinions, hatched in Egypt, or Rome, or Edinburgh, are like the frolics of drunken men; and that where there is a new creature, or a society of them, with all their imperfections and frailties, and errors in sentiment, in views, and opinions, they ought to receive one another, and the strong to support the weak, and not to please themselves. To lock ourselves up in the bandbox of our own little circle; to associate with a few units, tens, or hundreds, as the pure church, as the elect, is real Protestant monkery, it is evangelical pharisaism."

Alexander Campbell - "I have tried the pharisaic plan, and the monastic. I was once so straight, that, like the Indian's tree, I leaned a little the other way. And however much I may be slandered now as seeking "popularity" or a popular course, I have to rejoice that to my own satisfaction, as well as to others, I proved that truth, and not popularity, was my object; for I was once so strict a Separatist that I would neither pray nor sing praises with any one who was not as perfect as I supposed myself. In this most unpopular course I persisted until I discovered the mistake, and saw that on the principle embraced in my conduct, there never could be a congregation or church upon the earth."

Alexander Campbell - "I have no idea of adding to the catalogue of new sects. I labor to see sectarianism abolished and all Christians of every name united upon the one foundation upon which the apostolic church was founded."

The Gospel Union

Monday, March 07, 2005

The relentless optimist

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