Hopeful, not Optimistic
Read: Hebrews 6:10-20 We have this hope, a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul. (v. 19 NRSV) I am having a hard time feeling optimistic. Perhaps you are too? I
Jeff Munroe May 1, 2023
Jeff Munroe shares Hopeful, Not Optimistic, where he considers what biblical hope looks like in a world torn apart by so many seemingly unresolvable problems.
Read: Hebrews 6:10-20 We have this hope, a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul. (v. 19 NRSV) I am having a hard time feeling optimistic. Perhaps you are too? I
Read: 1 Peter 1:1-16 Set all your hope on the grace that Jesus Christ will bring you. (v. 13 NRSV) I often use the word hope to express wishful thinking. “I hope
Read: John 12:20-32 If it dies, it bears much fruit. (v. 24) I love my compost bucket. It’s provided by a local farm, and every month they cart away a full
Read: Ezekiel 37:1-14 Our bones are dried up, and our hope is lost. (v. 11) I remember hearing the old spiritual “Dry Bones” for the first time. I was nine years
Read: Psalm 137 How could we sing the Lord’s song in a foreign land? (v. 4 NRSV) The heading in my Bible for Psalm 137 says, “Lament over the Destruction of
Read: Romans 5:1-11 We rejoice in our sufferings. (v. 3) I have a friend who is one of the only female Christian leaders in Pakistan. Imagine living in a poor Muslim
Read: Psalm 102:1-22 My heart is stricken and withered like grass. (v. 4 NRSV) My father died while I was working on this set of devotions. Although he lived to be
Read: 1 Corinthians 15:42-58 We shall also bear the image of the man of heaven. (v. 49) I read an article about heaven the morning of the day my father died, having
Read: Isaiah 40:21-31 Those who hope in the Lord . . . will soar on wings like eagles. (v. 31 NIV) Hope is the thing with feathers,” Emily Dickinson wrote in what might
Jeff Munroe is the editor of theReformed Journaland, in addition to being the author of the best-selling book Reading Buechner: Exploring the Work of a Master Memoirist, Novelist, Theologian, and Preacher, is also a poet, blogger, and essayist. His work has appeared in Christianity Today, The Christian Century, US Catholic, and The Reformed Journal.