Boundless Optimism

The apostle Paul, in describing his amazing transformation from darkness to light, from death to life in Jesus Christ, wrote this in 1st Timothy chapter 1:
12And I thank Christ Jesus our Lord who has enabled me, because He counted me faithful, putting me into the ministry,13although I was formerly a blasphemer, a persecutor, and an insolent man; but I obtained mercy because I did it ignorantly in unbelief.14And the grace of our Lord was exceedingly abundant, with faith and love which are in Christ Jesus.

We serve a God who is our source of abundant grace and excessive resources that enable us to have a relationship with Him and to effectively live the Christian life.  And, we trust in a God who can give us hope in our hearts as He expresses His will in and through us.  Our hope in Him can be a tangible reminder to a world that is being shaken that we can have unshakable faith in a God who is powerful and incredibly faithful. Our lives can reflect the presence of a God who is able to do way beyond what we can comprehend.

The words of Ephesians 3 can be inspiring and instructive for us, and can shape our attitude toward God and our reliance on His power and His promises:
20Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us,21to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.

Yesterday, the 45th anniversary of the first men walking on the moon gave people the opportunity to reflect on the event and to talk about its significance.   There was a piece that ran on the AL.com website that reflected on a particular family in Huntsville that, like so many other families that day, was gathered around a large black-and-white TV set to view the historic events as they unfolded.

But, in this case, the entire family wasn't there. The father was away on a business trip. He often was.

Dr. Wernher von Braun was in Houston that day, in Mission Control, watching the culmination of a dream.

Meanwhile, his family – wife Maria, daughters Ingrid and Margrit and son Peter – were in Huntsville, following the progress of the mission on television.

Dr. Margrit von Braun, a professor emeritus at the University of Idaho, is an environmental engineer. In an e-mail exchange with AL.com, she wrote:

Although in the background there was a multitude of response scenarios for all the things that could go wrong, all I remember is a feeling of boundless optimism. I don't recall any "what if" discussions – only the certainty that we would land on the moon and an excitement to explore what the lunar surface would be like.

That boundless optimism for new ventures seems rare these days. Perhaps it is, in fact, a requirement for things to go well.

The key words here are "boundless optimism."  That is apparently a characteristic, or better yet, an attitude that Dr. von Braun possessed.   And, that attitude drove people to pursue this venture that culminated in Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin ultimately taking that "giant leap for mankind."

That phrase can remind us of what Paul wrote in Ephesians chapter 3 about our God who is able to do exceedingly abundantly beyond what we can ask or think.

In the "Jewelry Box" section of Priscilla Shirer's website, I found these words:

So when Paul wrote Ephesians 3:20, he intended to declare an absolute, unconditional, irrevocable truth in a world overrun with constant change and relativity: God, he said, “is able to do” it.

Whatever your “it” may be, God’s got it covered.

When the Scripture declares God’s power and might to be unlimited, unstoppable, and boundless, we are staring at a truth that’s more certain than the fat grams in a doughnut, than the battery life on a sundial, than the chances of running into a cheapskate at a coupon convention.

God = Is = Able.

Any way you add it up. This is something we can know for certain in our hearts in regard to any and every impossible situation we’re facing. It is something we can keep turning our lives toward with confidence every minute of every day. Any day. Like today.

She is the author of a book based on that passage in Ephesians 3 called, God is Able.

So, we can be people of boundless optimism, not in the strength or ingenuity of humanity, but in the power and promises of God.   In a way, that attitude that drove the original space program to fly higher and soar and explore deeper into space can be a great metaphor for what the Christian life can be like.   God is calling us to live a life that expands our human abilities and to discover more about what He has to teach us about what He wants to and can do in our lives.   As believers, we are not called to pursue empty hope, but to rely on the tangible expression of the presence of Almighty God in our lives.  

We live in a world that is constantly changing, in which there is pessimism, even fear about what is to come.   There is trouble around the globe and huge problems that we seem to be impotent to solve.   Yet, amidst it all, we can trust in the Lord.   And, the display of our unshakable hope can be a powerful testimony to the world.