What is hope?
Hope: to cherish a desire with anticipation (Merriam-Webster).
Seems easily attainable, manageable and desirable.
Today's Bible Verse: Why are you downcast, O my soul? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God. Psalm 42:11 (Biblegateway.com)
What jumps out, "Put your hope in God..." That's a command, not an option. Why do we consistently struggle with trying to personally produce, manage and stimulate our own hope? Why is it so difficult to trust God and put all our hope in him? Why is this a daily struggle?
It's amazing that the author mentions how his soul is "downcast" and "disturbed." Just proves the author felt a lot of the feelings we feel today. My soul does stir and it tells me a lot about myself. If feels, reveals and is the gateway into my heart and spirit.
God has always given (yes, even when I don't deserve it) me a peaceful hope, one that quiets my soul, mind and spirit (again, exceeding my expectations, He didn't need to take care of all areas). This hope feeds my soul and nourishes it when it's been bruised.
"I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God." God has always been there and has always exceeded my expectations. God knows me better than I know myself. Everyday we choose and everyday I will choose to place my hope in Jesus Christ. Will you do the same?
Just one more thing: We must remember not to hope in things and/or outcomes we want. We need to "hope in God." Yup, the verse says it. Give it up! Let it go! God is so good and in control.
Tuesday, June 29, 2010
The economics of joy.
Recently, I attended the biannual conference of the American Society of Health Economists at Cornell. I am neither an economist nor a health policy expert, but I have one of those weird, inside-the-Beltway jobs that required me to be there, anyway. Needless to say, I had a lot to learn--and learn I did.
Economists are a special breed of thinkers, and hanging out with them forces my brain to stretch and twist in awkward ways. To be honest, looking at equations makes me panic a little bit inside. But I cope by reminding myself that economists are just storytellers who like to use numbers instead of letters. They just ask a question, gather some relevant data points, look for trends, and then use pretty graphs to explain their findings.
So just for fun, here's my (entirely scientific and credible) attempt to think like an economist.
I've been thinking a lot about the concept of joy lately, so let's stick with that for now. As we're told in Galatians 5:22, joy is one of the fruits of the Spirit. That means that as we live out our faith and follow the Spirit's leading, our joy should increase (see the pink line).
One of the big problems I have with understanding joy, though, is that it's so easy to mistake with happiness. As you can see from the jagged blue line, happiness is elusive and circumstantial. Let's go hiking! (+1 point) Oh wait, it's raining outside. (-2) I'm in love! (+10) Alas, my heart is broken. (-15) How are we supposed to be joyful when our emotions are all over the place? If being joyful means we're exhibiting the fruits of the Spirit, is it a sin to be unhappy? And shouldn't being a Christian cause my happiness to trend steadily upward?
Nope. They're not even correlated.
Whereas the degree of our happiness can be influenced by any number of internal or external factors, joy comes from the Spirit. When we experience blessings, these naturally cause us to experience both happiness and joy simultaneously. Suffering, conversely, leads to unhappiness. But if we can trust God to carry us through our sufferings and learn how to interpret them rightly (in light of God's larger plan), then these should actually increase our joy.
Additionally, you'll notice that the pink line is not just a straight line. There's not a strict age-to-joy ratio (as if every year of your life begets 5 additional points of joy). It's actually way better than that! Because all of the fruits of the Spirit work together (love enables joy, which begets peace, etc.), the future value of the joy you have now will increase exponentially down the road. Ah, the miracle of compound interest.
Economists are a special breed of thinkers, and hanging out with them forces my brain to stretch and twist in awkward ways. To be honest, looking at equations makes me panic a little bit inside. But I cope by reminding myself that economists are just storytellers who like to use numbers instead of letters. They just ask a question, gather some relevant data points, look for trends, and then use pretty graphs to explain their findings.
So just for fun, here's my (entirely scientific and credible) attempt to think like an economist.
I've been thinking a lot about the concept of joy lately, so let's stick with that for now. As we're told in Galatians 5:22, joy is one of the fruits of the Spirit. That means that as we live out our faith and follow the Spirit's leading, our joy should increase (see the pink line).
One of the big problems I have with understanding joy, though, is that it's so easy to mistake with happiness. As you can see from the jagged blue line, happiness is elusive and circumstantial. Let's go hiking! (+1 point) Oh wait, it's raining outside. (-2) I'm in love! (+10) Alas, my heart is broken. (-15) How are we supposed to be joyful when our emotions are all over the place? If being joyful means we're exhibiting the fruits of the Spirit, is it a sin to be unhappy? And shouldn't being a Christian cause my happiness to trend steadily upward?
Nope. They're not even correlated.
Whereas the degree of our happiness can be influenced by any number of internal or external factors, joy comes from the Spirit. When we experience blessings, these naturally cause us to experience both happiness and joy simultaneously. Suffering, conversely, leads to unhappiness. But if we can trust God to carry us through our sufferings and learn how to interpret them rightly (in light of God's larger plan), then these should actually increase our joy.
HAPPINESS | JOY | |
Blessing | + | + |
Suffering | - | + |
Sin | +/- | - |
Additionally, you'll notice that the pink line is not just a straight line. There's not a strict age-to-joy ratio (as if every year of your life begets 5 additional points of joy). It's actually way better than that! Because all of the fruits of the Spirit work together (love enables joy, which begets peace, etc.), the future value of the joy you have now will increase exponentially down the road. Ah, the miracle of compound interest.
Monday, June 21, 2010
A little bit of context.
We serve a big God. We believe that He holds all of history in His hands.
But we're not here to ask big questions, or to try to figure out the plot. We're just trying to humbly develop our characters so that we can be faithful to the parts we've been cast to play.
The point of this project is to create a space where we can stop, take a step back, and name our place in the overarching redemptive historical context. In the crush of our busy lives, it's easy to feel overwhelmed by our circumstances. But - praise God! - we're part of a love story, and there is a happy ending.
Through the stories we collect here, we want to learn how to recognize grace in the context of our daily lives and describe it in all of its particularities. We aim to seek out joy and to participate in life's blessings wherever they are found.
But we're not here to ask big questions, or to try to figure out the plot. We're just trying to humbly develop our characters so that we can be faithful to the parts we've been cast to play.
The point of this project is to create a space where we can stop, take a step back, and name our place in the overarching redemptive historical context. In the crush of our busy lives, it's easy to feel overwhelmed by our circumstances. But - praise God! - we're part of a love story, and there is a happy ending.
Through the stories we collect here, we want to learn how to recognize grace in the context of our daily lives and describe it in all of its particularities. We aim to seek out joy and to participate in life's blessings wherever they are found.
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