Spiritual Optimism

Spiritual Optimism

He is the one who mediates a new covenant between God and people, so that all who are called can receive the eternal inheritance God has promised them. For Christ died to set them free from the penalty of the sins they had committed under that first covenant.

Hebrews 9:15

Shortly after graduate School, and early into taking on our teaching assignments at the university, we found a helpful mentor in H. Norman Wright. In fact, you’ll see him in a framed photo that rests on a prominent shelf in our study. Norm was one of the early pioneers when it comes to giving married couples practical help from a biblical perspective. He’s written dozens of helpful books for couples. And if you spend time with him, you’ll learn very quickly that he’s an optimist. He likes to learn from the past, but he’s drawn to the present and the future. He’s a “glass half-full” kind of guy.

Someone defined a pessimist as one who feels bad when he feels good for fear he’ll feel worse when he feels better. Pessimists have simply made negative thinking a habit, a way of life. Optimists, on the other hand, are undaunted by defeat. When they are confronted with the inevitable hard knocks of life, they immediately look for solutions. They see defeat as temporary. Most of all, they look to a bright future.

It is difficult to read about the new covenant of Christ and not become an optimist. Through his death and resurrection, Jesus is promising an eternal inheritance. He is setting us free from sin. Of course, the Bible has a different word for optimism: hope. In the New Testament “hope” appears more than eighty times, and it usually includes references to Christ, who is the hope of this world (see Titus 2:13; 1 Peter 1:3, NASB). Colossians 1:4-5 tells us that love springs from hope. That’s a good message for married couples. We can’t really love one another without hope.

Hope is the “strong and trustworthy anchor for our souls” (Hebrews 6:19), and “will not lead to disappointment” (Romans 5:5). Paul also alluded to hope as being an attitude of optimism when he urged the Thessalonians to put on the helmet of hope (I Thessalonians 5:8, NIV). Hope protects our head. It is an attitude that safeguards optimism—and protects a marriage. And that’s a lesson we learned early on from our optimistic friend Norm Wright.

An optimist is the human personification of spring.

—Susan J. Bissonette