{"id":1862,"date":"2012-01-19T07:00:13","date_gmt":"2012-01-19T12:00:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/godonomics\/?p=1862"},"modified":"2012-01-05T16:21:13","modified_gmt":"2012-01-05T21:21:13","slug":"be-realistically-hopeful","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/godonomics\/2012\/01\/be-realistically-hopeful.html","title":{"rendered":"Be Realistically Hopeful"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Bible is Too Niavely Optimistic<\/strong><\/p>\n

Most religions have a way of elevating yourself. Usually it is some version of good deeds. In Buddhism you get enlightenment. In Islam you follow the 7 pillars. In Judaism you keep the law. In Christian Science you mediate on real vs the unreal. \u00a0When you look at all the similarities in these very different philosophies, it comes down to one thing: a do-it-yourself plan. Your job is to elevate yourself. \u00a0So you feel as good as \u201cyour self image.\u201d You are as acceptable to God as your daily update of good deeds. You are as worthy as your resume tells you, you are. \u00a0The best you get is \u201cif you do this, this, and this\u201d we can temporarily make this a better place until we all die.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 On the other hand, Jesus says you can know you will be in Heaven with Him. You can know God is with you right now. You can know you are acceptable to God. And Christianity doesn\u2019t say this is possible, it says it is inevitable to those who place their trust in Christ<\/em>. \u00a0It offers a way to be acceptable to God that is not changing, not unstable, not based on you.<\/p>\n

Romans 8:15 You received the spirit of adoption by whom we cry out Abba, Father. The Spirit bears witnesses with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs-heirs<\/strong> of God and joint heirs with Christ.<\/em><\/p>\n

Notice that the Bible says that you can Know you are a son of God. You can have the confidence that you are adopted by the Father. You can know you are a heir. A co-heir with Christ. \u00a0\u00a0Many religions offer second chances to clean up your act. But nothing like this. No religion even dares to claim that you can be adopted by God permanently into His family and offered heirship to God\u2019s eternal treasures. \u00a0Do you see how this elevates us? Paul doesn\u2019t say that \u201cone day you will be,\u201d he is talking in the present tense. You can know that RIGHT NOW you are acceptable to God. RIGHT NOW, you are beautiful, stainless, expensive, valuable, and beautiful. Why? Based on what? Based on what He has done. God offers to give this us and View us the way he viewed his son. God can see us as righteous as his son Jesus is. As pure as his son Christ. As kind, and selfless\u2026 Everything we want to be, but can\u2019t be, and a million times more is what God is offering. \u00a0Doesn\u2019t it sound too good to be true? Doesn\u2019t something in you start saying, \u201cYes, but if you don\u2019t make it about works, how will you keep people behaving? \u00a0That\u2019s a nice idea, but it can\u2019t be true. It\u2019s too much. Too good. He must mean something else. \u00a0But God doesn\u2019t mean something else. \u00a0He offers a self-image that is so high, so exalted, and so beautiful\u2026 mainly because it is not directly correlated to \u201cself\u201d. \u00a0My image of me is a God image. How does God see me now? The problem with a good self image, or a bad self image is that they are directly correlated to some aspect of myself. \u00a0If I play sports well, if I get the deal, if I am a good mom, good dad, a blah blah blah\u2026.<\/p>\n

THIS TEACHING MAKES YOU REALISTICALLY HOPEFUL<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

The word HOPE in the Bible is not like our word hope. Hope means, \u201cI wish…\u201d I hope the Bengals do better… I wish\/hope the Reds would win the World Series. \u00a0The word HOPE in the Bible means confidence. It is a confident assurance.<\/p>\n

You can know that God will make you acceptable.<\/p>\n

You can know God can change you.<\/p>\n

You and I can know that God can take even the bad stuff and use it for good.<\/p>\n

I was on the phone about 5 months ago with a friend of mine who is an executive in New York. \u00a0He was in tears as he told me that he was going through a divorce and it was tearing him apart. He told me that part of what led to the divorce was his ongoing addiction to pornography. He was deeply realistic about how his actions had led to the divorce. And then he said, \u201cChad I used to think I\u2019d never be \u201cone of those people\u201d who got divorced and had to visit my kids once a month. \u00a0I realized how judgmental I was in thinking that. \u00a0I was so ashamed of my addiction; I know I can\u2019t make up for what I did. But I am learning how God made me clean through Christ. I keep thanking God, that by His grace, He makes me clean. He\u2019s made me acceptable. \u00a0I so want to live and walk in the grace that He\u2019s given me. I know I can be free from this.\u201d He was telling me about the hope he had to change, the hope he had to examine his own pride and judgementalism.<\/p>\n

The teachings of the Bible makes you realistically hopeful about all the things that are wrong. They give you the freedom to doubt and be realistic about pain, suffering and evil… And yet promise a power that can overcome and overwhelm the worst of the worst.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

For a free first session of Godonomics, visit:\u00a0 http:\/\/www.godonomics.com\/watch-session-1<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=qJFUdvlLYtM<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Bible is Too Niavely Optimistic Most religions have a way of elevating yourself. Usually it is some version of good deeds. In Buddhism you get enlightenment. In Islam you follow the 7 pillars. In Judaism you keep the law. In Christian Science you mediate on real vs the unreal. \u00a0When you look at all…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":353,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[447,448],"tags":[516,129,480],"class_list":["post-1862","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-celebrate","category-joy","tag-be-hopeful","tag-hope","tag-jesus"],"yoast_head":"\nBe Realistically Hopeful - Godonomics<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/godonomics\/2012\/01\/be-realistically-hopeful.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Be Realistically Hopeful - Godonomics\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The Bible is Too Niavely Optimistic Most religions have a way of elevating yourself. Usually it is some version of good deeds. In Buddhism you get enlightenment. In Islam you follow the 7 pillars. In Judaism you keep the law. In Christian Science you mediate on real vs the unreal. \u00a0When you look at all…\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/godonomics\/2012\/01\/be-realistically-hopeful.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Godonomics\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2012-01-19T12:00:13+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2012-01-05T21:21:13+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"chadhovind\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Be Realistically Hopeful - Godonomics","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/godonomics\/2012\/01\/be-realistically-hopeful.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Be Realistically Hopeful - Godonomics","og_description":"The Bible is Too Niavely Optimistic Most religions have a way of elevating yourself. Usually it is some version of good deeds. In Buddhism you get enlightenment. In Islam you follow the 7 pillars. In Judaism you keep the law. In Christian Science you mediate on real vs the unreal. \u00a0When you look at all…","og_url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/godonomics\/2012\/01\/be-realistically-hopeful.html","og_site_name":"Godonomics","article_published_time":"2012-01-19T12:00:13+00:00","article_modified_time":"2012-01-05T21:21:13+00:00","author":"chadhovind","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/godonomics\/2012\/01\/be-realistically-hopeful.html","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/godonomics\/2012\/01\/be-realistically-hopeful.html","name":"Be Realistically Hopeful - Godonomics","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/godonomics\/#website"},"datePublished":"2012-01-19T12:00:13+00:00","dateModified":"2012-01-05T21:21:13+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/godonomics\/#\/schema\/person\/b94809cbc6e13eafdb08a63d1825e37a"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/godonomics\/2012\/01\/be-realistically-hopeful.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/godonomics\/2012\/01\/be-realistically-hopeful.html"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/godonomics\/2012\/01\/be-realistically-hopeful.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/godonomics"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Be Realistically Hopeful"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/godonomics\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/godonomics\/","name":"Godonomics","description":"Beliefnet Voices - Chad Hovind","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/godonomics\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/godonomics\/#\/schema\/person\/b94809cbc6e13eafdb08a63d1825e37a","name":"chadhovind","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/godonomics\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/godonomics\/wp-content\/wphb-cache\/gravatar\/5ce\/5ce450f147d7562d63fa6a7f70df8143x96.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/godonomics\/wp-content\/wphb-cache\/gravatar\/5ce\/5ce450f147d7562d63fa6a7f70df8143x96.jpg","caption":"chadhovind"},"description":"Chad Hovind is Senior Pastor of Horizon Community Church in Cincinnati, Ohio. He graduated from Moody Bible College in Chicago, majoring in pastoral ministry and communication. His love for ministry and creativity can be seen in many forms: leading teams, expository teaching, acting, and video production. He has served as pastor at two high-impact churches in Georgia: Cumberland Community Church and New Community Church. Chad received an M.A. in Ministry from Moody Graduate School in 2008. He loves volleyball, movies, and hanging out with his wife Beth and their three children.","sameAs":["http:\/\/www.godonomics.com\/"],"url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/godonomics\/author\/chadhovind"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/godonomics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1862","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/godonomics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/godonomics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/godonomics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/353"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/godonomics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1862"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/godonomics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1862\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1885,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/godonomics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1862\/revisions\/1885"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/godonomics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1862"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/godonomics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1862"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/godonomics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1862"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}