JESUS WAS OPTIMISTIC:
Turn with me to Matthew 9:27ff. Jesus is going around, healing people, teaching them the gospel of God. Two blind men come up to Him and call on for mercy from this, the Son of David. Jesus entered the house and the blind men practically followed Him inside. “Do you believe that I am able to do this?” He asked. “Are you optimistic?” “Are you positive that I can do this?” Do you see how all these concepts are parallel?
They respond optimistically, “Yes, Lord.” So, in verse 29, Jesus touched their eyes, and said, “It shall be done to you according to your faith.” And their eyes were opened (vs 30).
Take another example. In John 9, Jesus heals the man who was born blind. This was the man who was kicked out of the synagogue because he was willing to give Jesus credit for it. Once he was excommunicated, Jesus found him and asked, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?” That is, “Are you optimistic that the Messiah is coming?” “Who is He, Lord, that Immay be optimistic, that I may believe in Him?” And Jesus said, “You have both seen Him, and He is the one who is talking with you.” “Ah,” the healed blind man said. “Lord, I believe.”
When Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead, a similar dialogue occurs between Jesus and Lazarus’ sister, Martha. She called out Jesus, affirming that if Jesus had been there earlier, Lazarus would not have died. Jesus responds, famously, “I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me will live even if he dies, and everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die. Do you believe this?” (11:25). In essence, Jesus is asking Martha, “Are you optimistic that I have the ability to share life with you, with Lazarus?” She said, in words of strong and deep conviction: “Yes, Lord; I have believed that You are the Christ, the Son of God, even He who comes into the world.”
Again, when Paul was on trial and standing before King Agrippa, Paul asked him, Paul challenged him, “Do you believe the prophets?” (Acts 26:27) That is, “Are you optimistic that the prophets are telling the truth?”
Can we see that optimistic and a positive attitude are synonymous with faith in God? So, what does that have to do with us being positive as leaders in Christ’s church?
Martyn Lloyd-Jones was a heart surgeon and said, “Most unhappiness in life is due to the fact that you are listening to yourself rather than talking to yourself.” I would adjust that and say we are not listening to God nearly as much as we should. What kind of voices do we hear on a daily basis? When we meet people, do we tell ourselves they’ll let us down? When we face new experiences, does the voice in our head say that we’re going to fail? If we’re hearing negative messages, we need to learn to give ourselves a mental pep talk. The best way to retrain our attitude is to prevent our mind from going down any negative forks in the road.
To be a leader, be optimistic.
Paul Holland
