Hopefully Optimistic
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Psalm 119:17-24
17. Deal bountifully with thy servant, that I may live and observe thy word. 18. Open my eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of thy law. 19. I am a sojourner on earth; hide not thy commandments from me! 20. My soul is consumed with longing for thy ordinances at all times. 21. Thou dost rebuke the insolent, accursed ones, who wander from thy commandments; 22. take away from me their scorn and contempt, for I have kept thy testimonies. 23. Even though princes sit plotting against me, thy servant will meditate on thy statutes. 24. Thy testimonies are my delight, they are my counselors.
1 Peter 2:4-12
4. Come to him, to that living stone, rejected by men but in God's sight chosen and precious; 5. and like living stones be yourselves built into a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. 6. For it stands in scripture: "Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone, a cornerstone chosen and precious, and he who believes in him will not be put to shame." 7. To you therefore who believe, he is precious, but for those who do not believe, "The very stone which the builders rejected has become the head of the corner," 8. and "A stone that will make men stumble, a rock that will make them fall"; for they stumble because they disobey the word, as they were destined to do. 9. But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God's own people, that you may declare the wonderful deeds of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. 10. Once you were no people but now you are God's people; once you had not received mercy but now you have received mercy. 11. Beloved, I beseech you as aliens and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh that wage war against your soul. 12. Maintain good conduct among the Gentiles, so that in case they speak against you as wrongdoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation
One of those “God-incidences” that I “randomly” found two scripture on being an alien, a sojourner! These are especially timely for me right now, but really, they are always timely when we live our lives based on our faith! The world has one set of standards and believers have another. We’re told we’re crazy, we’re told we’re dreamers, unrealistic, silly, hopelessly optimistic, because we don’t allow our lives to be ruled by “the world.” We have a higher ruler! We have a ruler who has existed since before time began! And he is ruler above all rulers, king above all kings, God above all gods!
Really, just living in the world presents us daily challenges and choices we must make about how to act, what to say, how to present ourselves and how we respond to others. More, how we respond to the world and the influences of those who may not have heard the commandments by which we live. Our souls long for the perfect statutes of our amazing God! Our hearts long for the perfect love and peace of our Savior, Jesus! And words cannot fully explain either one! We cannot formulate a sentence nor describe through any medium the perfection found in perfect faith, perfect faithfulness, perfect longing and seeking for that perfection! We only have our actions and our words as strangers and sojourners in this world. And that is what will be our testimony to those who have not understood. Then they will understand that we are
hopeFULLY optimistic, because we believe and live by the promise of the Cross.
I hope today you gather together with other strangers and sojourners and find strength in numbers and hope in your shared faith. And that you’ll reach out to other travelers on this earth and offer them perfect hope.
Mary
