I am married to an extremely positive person. Josh can see the best in any situation. He was reading a book that referenced a book entitled Learned Optimism, and I told him he didn’t need to read that book…he could have written it!
Always finding the silver lining.
It’s a great quality; it’s also one I have painfully lacked over the years. But living with an optimist teaches a girl! I truly think I’ve gotten better. I can no longer tell you the absolute worst case scenario for any given situation in 3.5 seconds or less. I am tending to search for the positive and think on that instead of the negative. I need to start using Josh’s line: “The good news is…..” It can be quite astounding the things he comes up with to finish that sentence.
This past week I was able to tell Josh that I really like who he is. I like how God made him and one quality,in particular, that I love is the way he takes the long view in life. He takes time to pause and think through how a situation might shake out. He doesn’t seem to react rashly. He doesn’t discount God’s activity in any situation. I verbally expressed what I often have admired about him in my heart and head. “I love how you take the long-view as opposed to being short-sighted.”
We had a lovely conversation that I hope encouraged him.
Then, on Sunday we were in 2 Peter 1. We’ve been studying the qualities that should be increasing in our lives as followers of Christ. Diligence. Moral excellence. Knowledge. Self-control. Perseverance. Godliness. Brotherly kindness. Love.
“For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they render you neither useless nor unfruitful in the true knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. For He who lacks these qualities is blind or shortsighted, having forgotten his purification from his former sins.
I venture to say that there is nothing as awful as being shortsighted about your own redemption. Could you imagine forgetting your own salvation? It’s a scary thought. That’s why the writer goes on to encourage us to be all the more diligent to know what God has called you to and to practice obedience, walking with God.
Taking the long view is not only a great characteristic; it’s a godly characteristic.
And keeping the long view in focus is greatly aided when we preach the gospel to ourselves regularly.
The good news is “He rescued us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.” Col. 1:13-14
The good news is “God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”
Romans 5:8
“For the wages of sin is death,” but the good news is, “the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord .”
Romans 6:23
Preach the gospel to yourself everyday. Keep the long view. It will affect your relationships. It will make an impact on how you work. It will change the way you use your finances. It will help you rise above the junk of the world. It will keep you depending on The Lord.
I’ll close with a quote from G. Campbell Morgan on 2 Peter 1:9 and the shortsighted man:
“Such a man sees things of time and fails to discern those of eternity. He sees the material facts, but not the facts of which they are but passing expression. In short, he sees himself and his fellow men, but not God…making spiritual advancement impossible. That is to say he has failed to respond to all the enlargement of life and vision which came to him when he received the cleansing of his nature at the very beginning of the Christian life.”