FollowY’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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