Time to 'Look Up'

Hello Church,

How many verses in the Bible encourage you to be an optimist?  The answer is at the end of this blog.

As I stated Sunday, I am going to be on a mission in 2020.  I am going to take as many opportunities as possible to ‘look up’.  That is, to give praise before I complain; to compliment before I criticize; and to thank God for forgiving me before I condemn.

It’s an experiment for me.  I may end up not being very good at it... er... I mean, I might end up being very good at it.  It's time for a year where the cup is half full.  It's a personal revolution for me.  I'm going to turn it into a spiritual revolution for me.  And when pastors have revolution, it's hard not to have it impact the parish to some degree.

God gives us reason to live like things are looking up because they are looking up.  The God of Heaven and Earth provides us the story of Christmas, Easter and Pentecost every year which reminds us all the reasons we have to look at the naysayers of the world and say, 'but......'.

I think that if I don't do that, I am somehow failing my Call.  This isn't just about the non-believers of the world, but also about you believers who will forget that bad days are temporary and that good days are promised to us.

But don't take my word for it.  Take the Word for it.  The end of each Gospel defines the whole book of the Bible as a book of optimism.  Say what you want about the Fall, the book of Judges, Israel's plight, Job's sufferings, Jonah's stubbornness, Judas' betrayal, etc.  The end of each Gospel (as well as many wonderful lessons along the way) demand that we 'look up'.

How many verses in the Bible encourage you to be an optimist?  More than you need.

But we will explore several of them throughout the season of Epiphany and beyond.

God is Good,

Pastor Joe