SERIES: Wisdom From Proverbs
TEXT: Various Proverbs About Optimism
MESSAGE: “Christian Optimism”
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As we look through today’s text, we see that Christianity is expressed through optimism.
Question for today: How can I develop the wisdom to influence my inner conversation to be more optimistic and have a cheerful heart?
Proverbs 3:5-6
Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight.
- Christianity is Expressed Through Optimism
Optimism: a disposition or tendency to look on the more favorable side of events or conditions and to expect the most favorable outcome.
Pessimism: a tendency to see the worst aspect of things or believe that the worst will happen.
In Proverbs, optimism is expressed as the “Cheerful heart”.
Proverbs 17:22
A cheerful heart is good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones.
Proverbs 15:15
All the days of the oppressed are wretched, but the cheerful heart has a continual feast.
Proverbs 15:30
A cheerful look brings joy to the heart, and good news gives health to the bones.
Proverbs 12:25
An anxious heart weighs a man down, but a kind word cheers him up.
2. Wisdom Puts a Priority on the Inner Life
Proverbs 18:14
A man’s spirit sustains him in sickness, but a crushed spirit who can bear?
Ephesians 3:16-19
I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.
Proverbs 14:30
A heart at peace gives life to the body, but envy rots the bones.
Proverbs 12:25
An anxious heart weighs a man down, but a kind word cheers him up.
Proverbs 28:1
The wicked man flees though no one pursues, but the righteous are as bold as a lion.
Proverbs 14:13
Even in laughter the heart may ache, and joy may end in grief.
Proverbs 15:13
A happy heart makes the face cheerful, but heartache crushes the spirit.
Proverbs 14:10
Each heart knows its own bitterness, and no one else can share its joy.
Proverbs 16:2
All a man’s ways seem innocent to him, but motives are weighed by the LORD.
3. Wisdom Helps Heal the Inner Life
Proverbs 13:12
Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a longing fulfilled is a tree of life.
“Most people if they learned how to look into their own hearts would know they acutely want something that cannot be had in this world. The longings that arise in us when you first fall in love or first visit a foreign country or first take up a subject that excites us are longings that no marriage, no travel, no learning can really satisfy. I’m not speaking of unsuccessful marriages. I’m speaking of the best possible ones. There is always something that we grope at that fades away in reality.” – CS Lewis
Proverbs 15:4
The tongue that brings healing is a tree of life, but a deceitful tongue crushes the spirit.
Proverbs 15:14
The discerning heart seeks knowledge, but the mouth of a fool feeds on folly.
TAKEAWAYS: What can we apply to our lives?
- Let God change your inner conversation.
- Look at life through the lens of eternal life with Christ.
- Dedicate or rededicate your life to Jesus.