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Jesus and the Idiot Optimist

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By Jason Comerford

                Y’know what most of my life experience has led me to believe?

                Things work out for Jason Comerford.

 I have this weird, ill-defined feeling about how things tend to generally go well for me. This is, I suspect, thanks to growing up in a middle-class household with good parents, being an only child who never had to share, and generally reaping the benefits that come from being born white and male in America. A lifetime filled with financial security and parental affection has built into me this very undeserved sense that the world bends itself toward taking care of me.

Idiot optimism, I’m calling it.

Aside from being obviously wrong, there’s a lot of ways this sentiment can go dangerously sideways. I can become arrogant, imagining that my hard work or my intelligence caused this. Or maybe I’m just inherently so special, so important, that the world around me DOES bend to my will to keep me safe. Delusion at its finest.

But the most dangerous aspect of it, I’ve discovered, is that idiot optimism doesn’t require any faith. Optimism looks like faith, but it lacks any kind of reason for assurance or hope. And it’s hard to tell the difference. It’s an insidious counterfeit, mimicking the peace and decision-making of ACTUAL hope in Jesus Christ.

Faith, on the other hand, is an entirely different animal. Faith is, very specifically, trust in a person.

Don’t skim over that. This is no vague, unproven sense that things will be okay. Faith has a reason for thinking things will turn out okay and be made right one day. That reason is Jesus.

Jesus, who gives His own kingdom to the poor. (Matthew 5:3)

Jesus, who promises to comfort the mourning. (Matthew 5:4)

Jesus, who heals sick people. (John 5:1–9)

Jesus, who forgives all of our sins. (Mark 2:1–12)

Jesus, who grieves over the lost. (Luke 13:34–35)

Jesus, who casts out demons. (Mark 5:1–20)

Jesus, who conquered death. (Revelation 1:18)

Faith hears and believes that everything really will be made right one day, that a happy future really does await all those who trust Jesus. That no matter the heartache, no matter the darkness, no matter the injustice, no matter the danger that faces us, Jesus will restore all things and wipe every tear from our eyes. He will make things right. It may not be in this lifetime, but it will happen.

 And not because of any silly notion that the world bends to my will.

But because it bends to His.

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Worship: The Best Medicine for Life’s Little Troubles

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by Kendrick Gilli

Therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise—the fruit of lips that confess his name. (Hebrews 13:15)

I have come to take this very seriously over the past few years. I have seen firsthand how God has taken care of my family and made my business thrive. Of course, I have worked hard, but I am always amazed by those people who show up out of nowhere to get a mortgage. Obviously, this is not my doing, but a gift from God.

But let me go back to the beginning of my journey in this line of work. I stopped teaching a few years ago, after many years in that field. But what was I supposed to do? Then one day, I heard the Lord tell me to help people with their mortgage needs. This may sound strange, for why would God put me in this line of work? How can I work for Him by writing mortgages? However, He stood by me and my family during this transition, and from the beginning, I wanted to stand with Him as well. I began by praising Him.

Every morning, I listen to praise music and sing along in the car on the way to work. Now this is a prime time for loan officers to be on the phone, but I would rather sing to the Lord. It is probably a good thing that other people are not in the car, because my voice is a lot like a screeching cat. But there I am singing along, people in other cars looking at me, but I do not care. Once I get to the office, all the people know that I am there, because I come in singing. All morning, in between calls, I have the music on as well.

With all the selfish desires, foul mouths, stress, etc. that I see around me, I stay calm, knowing that the Lord is leading my life. Several have asked me how I can stay calm when things don’t go right, and I have a chance to tell them about the joy of the Lord and how I trust in Him. This is my missionary field. I am unafraid to talk to people about the Lord, because the Lord put me there. However, day in and day out, He speaks to me through the songs, and He always has the right songs for that day, even if things do get stressful.

Now, your worship may look totally different from mine, but no matter what, it is an integral part of our relationship with our heavenly father, as Pastor Steve told us last Sunday. David often worshipped through his Psalms—his love, his frustration, his passion, his remorse and on and on. Yeah, I know, many of us do not have the ability to write psalms or songs or even sing. But God loves to hear our heart as we worship.

Don’t be afraid to worship the Lord. You might be surprised how it changes your day-to-day life, which will be infused with the Joy of the Lord. Figure out which way you want to worship Him and build that into your daily living.

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What’s in Your Backpack?

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By Bill Naron         

A couple of months ago, in a desire to allow our home to be more efficient, my wife and I began the process of purging. We chose to start with the children’s rooms. The reason for starting there was simple: they had too many toys! Our children had this interesting habit of taking a backpack and stuffing it full of toys. Then they would just walk around with it while playing whatever game they were playing. We were both so confused by this behavior and tried to reason out why they did this. The conclusion that we finally came to was that the children had too many toys.

            Proverbs 27:20 says, “Hell and destruction are never full; so the eyes of man are never satisfied.” By our own human nature, we desire to gain more and to have more. Like the proverb says, our eyes are never satisfied.

            As I have pondered the words of this Scripture and as I reflect on the words of Pastor Steve, I ask myself, Are my eyes satisfied? Am I content with the things that the Lord has given to me? Am I content with where God has placed me?

Our contentment is not just being satisfied with the physical items we possess. Our contentment is also a matter of being satisfied with where God has placed us. No matter who you are, God has given you defined life roles. Whether we are fathers or mothers, or teachers, or husbands, or wives, or students, it is important for us to identify the roles that God has given us and understand them.

The word content is defined as “being in a state of peaceful happiness.” Are you in a state of peaceful happiness? Is your backpack light or heavy? The Apostle Paul says in Timothy, “But Godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out.” Paul lets us in on the secret: the only thing that matters is seeking after the Father. All the possessions we can gain mean nothing, because we cannot take them with us.

It is often stated that we should not be like the world and chase after material objects. In fact, in Romans, Paul tells us not to be conformed to the world but to be transformed by the renewing of our minds. We pray that God would guard our minds and our hearts. But have we ever thought of guarding our time and efforts?

How we prioritize our lives and how we fill our time give such a picture of what matters the most to us. This is why it is so vital to understand what the roles that God has given us are. Otherwise, we become like children whose backpacks are full of stuff. Filling our backpacks with commitment after commitment, we walk around or run around so busy, yet we do not seem to see the results that we thought we would. The stuff in our backpacks is taking up space and is hindering us from doing the things God has called us to do.

            I would challenge you to sit down and list out the roles that God has placed you in. Guard your time, and guard your efforts. Use your calendar and time to help enable your family and yourself to flourish. May your joy be full and may you be at peace with the time and season that God has you in.

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MOST

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Jeff Foerster

Russell Wilson is the most successful quarterback in the history of the Seattle Seahawks.

Jeff Bezos runs the most successful retailer, Amazon, in the history of the interweb.

The Avengers franchise is the most successful in box office history, holding four of the top 10 spots for highest-grossing movies.

For the year 2019, Facebook is the most searched keyword, California is the most taxed state in the nation, and Halloween’s most popular costume so far is, you guessed it, the clown.

When I was a kid, I had a book that I pored over on many an occasion, called The Guinness Book of World Records. In it was documented the “highest,” the “greatest,” and the “most” in any and every category. I loved that book.

I bring this to mind and to your attention because we are in a time of “most.” What do you want most? What do you greatly desire? What are you working toward? Where do you place your time? Where are your efforts directed? Which things, when they don’t go well, cause you the most pain or discomfort? What do you want most?

At Elim, we are in a time of discerning “most.” What is it that we want most as a church? Where will we spend our time? What are we working toward? What are our desires or goals? I ask these questions because the answers will, in large part, determine the type of person to lead us.

What does Jesus want most concerning us? How can we know this? Thankfully, this has not been left to guesswork, nor left to individual preference, nor abandoned to confusion. Through Jesus and the Holy Spirit and by the word of truth, the Scriptures, we have been given all we need to navigate this life. I have been reading through the four Gospels, looking at how the religious establishment, the church of that day, interacted with Jesus and vice versa. I will soon begin to study the book of Acts and examine the beginnings of the church, which is the body of Christ. I invite you to join me in the process of seeking what God values most.

We see it lived out in the life of Jesus and know we are called to be like the Father’s Son, but we are far too easily pulled in other directions. It is simple for me to see the uniqueness of the Son of God and place Him on a shelf to be admired—rather than acknowledging His position as Lord over my life, every single aspect of it, and following Him in utter dependency.

God calls us to much more than a moral life. He calls us to love and to sacrifice, as Jesus demonstrated, in a way that the world is not worthy of and cannot comprehend. So, I ask you again, “What is it that you want most?”

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One Way to Make Your Marriage Special

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by Pastor Steve McCoy

This next Sunday I will be preaching a sermon titled, “What Is So Special About Marriage?” It is based on Hebrews 13:4, which says, “Marriage should be honored by all, and the marriage bed kept pure, for God will judge the adulterer and all the sexually immoral.”

It is one thing to honor marriage, but it is another to live honorably with our spouse. One way to do that is to continue to “date” our spouse as when we first courted them.

Dr. Steve Stephens (don’t you love that name!) is a licensed Christian counselor from Clackamas, Oregon. He suggests the following 12 rules for a great date, which can be found in his book 20 (Surprisingly Simple) Rules and Tools for a Great Marriage:

  1. Shower and brush your teeth.
  2. Dress up to make your spouse proud.
  3. Turn off your smartphone.
  4. Listen with interest, giving 100 percent of your attention.
  5. Don’t talk about finances, children, problems, or anything potentially stressful.
  6. Compliment each other at every opportunity.
  7. Be polite and apologetic if you say or do anything rude.
  8. Say, “I love you.”
  9. Hold hands.
  10. Do things you know your partner would like.
  11. Have fun and be playful.
  12. End with a kiss (and maybe more).

Meanwhile, I’ll see you Sunday in church—perhaps after that Saturday-evening date?!

Warmly,

Pastor Steve McCoy

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Entertaining Angels

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by Brian Waple

“Don’t forget to show hospitality to strangers, for some who have done this have entertained angels without realizing it!” (Hebrews 13:2, NLT)

Listening to Pastor Steve speak about this passage on Sunday brought back a memory I have from my childhood, around January 1966. I was in the fifth grade and had driven down from Virginia with my grandparents to visit relatives in Florida. Driving back to Virginia on I-95, we hit a freak snowstorm and had to stop at a gas station in North Carolina. My grandfather went into the station to ask about the conditions heading north. He was told that traffic was stopped on the highway and they couldn’t get through.

In the station, my grandfather met Mr. Royster (I’ll never forget his name), a farmer who lived nearby. He told my grandfather that he would be happy to put us up until the road cleared (maybe a day or two). So, we followed Mr. Royster back to his farmhouse and settled in with him and his wife to wait out the storm.

Now, from my viewpoint, we were no angels, and this was long before I had any cognitive understanding of Christian morality. But I guess Mr. Royster knew a thing or two about showing hospitality to strangers. After we left, I don’t know if there was ever any follow-up with Mr. Royster and his wife. But, that act of kindness left an impression. Even as a naïve 10-year-old boy, I understood that caring for others in their time of need is important.

When Pastor Steve spoke on this, it brought up several questions in my mind: How do I show hospitality to strangers? Or more importantly, do I show hospitality to strangers? And if I don’t, why not? It mattered to Mr. Royster and it certainly matters to God, so shouldn’t it matter to me? I think it’s easier at times to think other people will step up and care for those in need . . . I have more pressing issues. But really, as a Christian, what could be more important than showing kindness to strangers? It goes hand in hand with the second part of Jesus’s Great Commandment: You must love others as you love yourself. I know that for myself, I need to reflect more on the passage from Matthew 25 (“And the King will say, ‘I tell you the truth, when you did it to one of the least of these my brothers and sisters, you were doing it to me!’” [Matthew 25:40, NLT]) and ask God to show me how I can be more responsive to His invitation to join in where He is working.

As we go through our everyday lives, we have the possibility of “entertaining angels.” How do you sense God is calling you to respond?

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