Daily Thought for Monday, November 7th

November 7, 2011

The Foolishness of Pessimism for the Modern Day Christian

Today’s Thought:

“A pessimist is one who, when he has the choice of two evils, chooses both.” – Oscar Wilde

Today’s Quote:

“If it weren’t for the optimist, the pessimist wouldn’t’ know how happy he isn’t.” – Anonymous

Today’s Question:

Did you know that a typical pessimist is: “A person who feels bad when he feels good for fear he’ll feel worse when he feels better?” – Anonymous

Today’s Bible Verses:            Ecclesiastes 10:12-15,  Psalms 14:1  & Mark 9:23

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The words of a wise man's mouth are gracious; but the lips of a fool will swallow up himself.  The beginning of the words of his mouth is foolishness: and the end of his talk is mischievous madness.  A fool also is full of words: a man cannot tell what shall be; and what shall be after him, who can tell him? The labour of the foolish wearieth every one of them, because he knoweth not how to go to the city.

The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God….

Jesus said unto him, If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth.

Today’s Spiritual Thought:

“Nothing is as easy as it looks: Everything takes longer than you think: and if there is a possibility of several things going wrong, the one that will cause the most damage will be the one to go wrong.” – Murphy’s Laws

Murphy seems to be the iconic philosopher for the pessimists.  In short the pessimist believes that if anything can go wrong it will and if there is nothing yet wrong, something bad is about to happen.  They also believe that there is little hope for nothing can really get better for it is most certainly doomed to get worse.

So then, I would inquire; is it possible for a Christian to be a pessimist?

Doesn’t this seem almost oxymoronic? 

Yet I have known many a person who professes to be a child of God, yet there outlook on life is resplendent with gloom and doom.

It would seem logical to me that any person who really knows God would have to know that there are better days a coming.   While this world in which we live is only my temporary home: I know who walks beside and communes with me each day and He ha the whole world in His hands: so He’s got me covered.

That doesn’t mean that as Christians we may not have bad days and unpleasant situations to go through but if we really believe in God – there is always hope and in Him and by and through Him things can only get better.  Remember this: “…in his favour is life: weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning.” – The Bible (Psalms 30:5)

Mary Eber-Eschenbach says, “How happy is the pessimist!  What joy is theirs when they have proved this is no joy.”   Yet the Christians knows, “…the joy of the Lord is your strength.” – The Bible (Nehemiah 8:10)

I believe from God’s point of view; pessimism is a tad bit foolish: for faith trumps pessimism every time and we all know that, “… without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.”  - The Bible (Hebrews 11:6)

Today’s Prayer:

Father, help me to be an eternally perpetual optimist.

“A pessimist is a man with a difficulty for every solution.”

- Anonymous