The Basis of Our Hope is Love

Big Idea: Our faith does not disappoint because it flows from God’s impossible work of justification, freeing us from His wrath to come, and reconciliation of personal relationship, making us friends with God, which produces confidence for living today.

Intro:

We must accept infinite disappointment, but never lose infinite hope.

-Martin Luther King Jr.

How to Deal with Disappointment: The Complete Guide (Part 3)

Step 1: Put yourself in a better mental state.

Whenever you experience disappointment, you are pulled down to a lower state of consciousness, where your thoughts are predominantly rooted in fear, sadness, grief, or apathy. There may be times when the feeling of disappointment is so overwhelming that it feels like the end of the world. Being trapped in such a state prevents you from thinking logically. Your first step should be to bring your consciousness up to a more neutral or positive level such as desire, neutrality, willingness, or reason, so that you are in a better position to react to your situation.

Step 2: Attach yourself to your desire, not your goal

When you are disappointed, your source of disappointment is rooted in your attachment to a certain outcome. When the outcome does not happen the way you envisioned, you become disappointed. This is a perfectly natural response. ...to deal with disappointment is to focus on your underlying desire for your goal, not the goal itself.

Step 3: Release yourself of your mental illusion

The next step to deal with disappointment is to release yourself of your illusion of what reality should be. Many people remain disappointed because they are hung up over what reality should be. If you are disappointed about something, that means you harbor a certain perception on what it should be. This perception is not the truth — it is simply your lens with which you see the world.

Step 4: Understand the outcome is not a setback

While you may feel disappointed, this experience is showing you that there is an error in your thinking. What you originally thought was sufficient to achieve your goal isn’t. Instead, you may need to increase your input and/or change your approach to get the results you want. Your disappointment is helping you move toward your goals, not away from your goals as you originally thought.

Step 5: Focus on doing the best you can

Finally, do the best you can. Many of us tend to beat ourselves up when things go wrong. We blame ourselves for everything that goes wrong. Stop doing that. There is no reason to self-blame when things go wrong. There is also no reason to expect that everything will go perfectly. If anything, it’s natural for things to go wrong.

While this advice sounds reasonable, when it comes to ultimate realities it is useless. This is Novocaine not a solution to disappointment.

When in vs. 5, Paul said that our “hope does not disappoint” he meant that what we are hoping in will happen. No matter what happens we will win!

But how can he say that? We experience disappointment everyday. He could say,

it is because God is all powerful and able to do the impossible…he would be right. But we can’t see that.

it is because God is loving and gracious so he will not disappoint us…again he would be right. But there are those in our lives that we love and try to be gracious toward but still end up disappointing them.

Paul gives us 3 reasons why we can be sure our hope in Christ will not disappoint us:

God did the impossible at the time we needed it most. (Romans 5:6-9)

Romans 5:6–9 NASB95

6 For while we were still helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. 7 For one will hardly die for a righteous man; though perhaps for the good man someone would dare even to die. 8 But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. 9 Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from the wrath of God through Him.

Rabbinical technique of arguing from the lesser to the larger, Paul here reverses it by arguing from the larger to the lesser.

The fact that our the provision for and the personal experience of our justification took place not after we demonstrated we were worth it, but when we were at our worst shows that God is serious about His grace.

The fact He accomplished an impossible task by providing a way to bring completely lost people to a salvation shows His wisdom and power.

So His wrath is not a threat.

Jesus Christ reconciled us to God making us friends of God. (Romans 5:10)

Romans 5:10 NASB95

10 For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life.

Noticeable is the change from “justified” to “reconciled”. Justification is a legal idea speaking to our standing with God. Reconciliation is a personal idea speaking to our relationship with God.

The Holy Spirit give us confidence by helping us see how God’s love for us contantly sustains us. (Romans 5:11)

Romans 5:11 NASB95

11 And not only this, but we also exult in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation.

In v. 5 Paul has said, “…hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit.”

Romans 5:5 NASB95

5 and hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us.

Paul now uses the word “exault” or “rejoice” lit. means to boast. The word is generally used in Greek to speak of a negative action, boasting in oneself. Paul uses it most in the NT. He uses it to speak of boasting in the Lord.

This concept is not unfamiliar to the Bible.

Jeremiah 9:23-24

Jeremiah 9:23–24 NASB95

23 Thus says the Lord, “Let not a wise man boast of his wisdom, and let not the mighty man boast of his might, let not a rich man boast of his riches; 24 but let him who boasts boast of this, that he understands and knows Me, that I am the Lord who exercises lovingkindness, justice and righteousness on earth; for I delight in these things,” declares the Lord.

To rejoice or boast in the Lord is to rejoice or boast in the power of God. Just as rejoicing in the our suffering is not rejoicing in our pain but in the power of God working in us.

This exulting is really a confidence in the face of circumstances. A confidence in God.

Galatians 6:14

Galatians 6:14 NASB95

14 But may it never be that I would boast, except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.

Conclusion:

A cloud of doubt hangs over home run king Barry Bonds. On August 7, 2007, Bonds hit number 756, the home run that broke Hank Aaron's record. Most of the talk about the new record, though, is whether it really should count, because Bonds is alleged to have used steroids. Sports buffs say if his name goes in the record book it should be accompanied by an asterisk. The asterisk, of course, means that the record is a sort-of record, a footnoted record. The asterisk means the record is tainted.

The asterisk idea didn't go away. Mark Ecko, the man who bought the ball that Bonds hit to set the record, asked baseball fans in an Internet poll what he should do with it. The fans voted for him to brand the baseball with an asterisk and donate it to the baseball Hall of Fame. In the summer of 2008 that's what Ecko did.

Having an asterisk by your name is actually something we all should be able to identify with. Scripture talks about the Book of Life, in which the names of each believer is recorded. With all the sins we have committed in this life, you would expect that each of us would have an asterisk by our name in this all-important Book. Tainted. Don't really belong.

But so great is our justification in Christ, so perfect is his work on the cross, so just is God in justifying you, that in the Book of Life there will be no asterisk by your name. Because of Christ's atoning work on the cross for you, you truly belong in the kingdom of God.