Faith is not optimism

Faith and Trust in God is not optimism or positive thinking. These things share some similarity, but they are not equal. Optimism is a feeling, it is a emotion. Positive thinking is powered by self. Do not get me wrong, nothing is wrong with them. They are better by far than their counterparts. As we see in Rom Faith comes from the Word of God. Rom 10:17 So faith comes from hearing, that is, hearing the Good News about Christ. And also in 1Thess what we base our belief on is not mere human ideas. 1Thess 2:13 Therefore, we never stop thanking God that when you received His message from us, you didn't think of our words as mere human ideas. You accepted what we said as the very word of God--which, of course, it is. And this word continues to work in you who believe. It is easy to get discouraged when we base what we believe on just thoughts our ideas. Emotions are powerful and in many ways are not just able to be dismissed. They can come to us from so many outside influences. A smell can trigger a memory that can lead to any number of feelings, both positive and negative. These triggers can be any number of things, that can lead to happy or depressed feelings. Our Faith in God is based on His Word. This does not change no matter the direction of winds. So many things are out of our control, this in itself can lead to feeling helpless. In Col 3:1-2 Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. 2 Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. We do have control here, we do have a choice. Here in verse 1 “set your hearts on things above...” This is in itself a expression of Faith. We must know that there is power in this. We are not setting our hearts or thoughts on “blue skies and clouds” which are above. Which if you think about it is like positive thinking. No, we are putting our Trust in the One who is the Maker of all things. To “set our hearts” on Jesus Who is above all things, will keep us from getting bound in the mire of not only fear, but all the things that take place in our life. Again, so many things are out of our control. How other people treat us, injuries to our minds and bodies. Problems that come that we are in no way to handle financially. On and on the list can go. These things cannot be ignored, they will have to be dealt with. Yet, we cannot afford to set our hearts on them. We must continue to set our hearts on Christ, Our Saviour and Lord. God knows what we need long before we do. To set our hearts on Him, to put All of our Hope, Trust, and Faith in God, we need this more than Anything else! The more we do this, we Will see the Glory of the Lord. Other people even ourselves will let us down. He will not! It may take time to fully arrive at this place, but it must be our goal.