Eternally Optimistic

Scripture References: Psalm 27:1; Acts 2:41

In 1914 the French never contemplated defeat at the hands of Germany. The essence of optimism over Germany’s eventual defeat is revealed in an apocryphal report to General Joseph Joffre from General Ferdinand Foch: “My center is broken, my right retreats, the situation is excellent: I attack.” That optimism brought Allied victory in 1918.

The first generation of church leaders expressed a similar buoyancy. They baptized every adversity, creating a grace from disgrace. They gladly accepted and gratefully endured all setbacks and attacks. Their unconquerable merriment fills the New Testament. Paul is in jail, but not the Word. Peter is on the run, but the Word still conquers human hearts. Christians lose their possessions, jobs, and lives, but others fill in the emptiness, unable to resist the sway of the Christ who uses even suffering to proclaim his conquest of Satan.

Whatever happened to that primal optimism? Did we lose it in our haste to institutionalize the body of Christ, to gain respect in a community of unbelievers, to safeguard our reputations, to ease the requirements for discipleship? If we have lost it, we had better find it again. If we never had it, we must pray to receive it.

Courtesy of Speaker’s Sourcebook of New Illustrations by Virgil Hurley © 1995 by Word, Incorporated.
Unless otherwise noted, Scripture taken from the New King James Version®, NKJV © 1982 by Thomas Nelson.
Used by permission. All rights reserved.