Whom to Put Our Hope

Dearest Saints With so many pressures and cutbacks that the Government is creating, great pressures are being put on people everywhere. Those that are most affected by these pressures are those who put their trust in the wrong resources, whether it includes other people, workers, our career or Government, etc. This reminds me where God tells us that worldly sorrow brings forth death (2 Cor 7:10) because it negatively affects people more when we put our hopes in anyone or anything else other than God. When people put their hopes and trust in a commodity, organization, Government or resource other than God, sooner or later, every one of these resources and agencies are going to fail each of us. When they do, people become angry, discouraged and distraught because they put their hope and expectations in someone or something that is anything but stable. Also, when people put too much expectations on other people or organizations to provide their needs, they are the ones who tend to become more angry because their level of expectation is far greater when those whom they put their expectations on are not able to meet their high expectations. Just like the term that I once heard about "Cognitive Dissenence". This term is based on the level of how much a person expects and the actual outcome of that agenda. This may be related to couples in marriage or our careers or anything else one may put high hopes and expectations towards. The level of Cognitive Dissenence reflects the outcome of a persons attitude. When Cognitive dissenence is greater, people tend to become more upset because their level of expectations were much too high to the level of the actual outcome they encounter. People who put their trust in someone or somethings modestly will not become as intolerable as those who always demand higher results from others all the time. When a person accepts other people and realizes and accepts the faults of others, they have a calmness of understanding by being realistic when others are quick to point the fault of others. What we need to do is to put our hopes and expectations in the One who will never fail us, which is Christ Jesus and Him alone. I know there are alot of people who would question this, but I want to ask this: Who/what are you putting your hope and expectations in? Are we truly humbling ourselves before God, or our we blaming God or others from the events happening in our lives? If we are, we need to face ourselves in the mirror and point the finger at ourselves by always asking the question, what can I do to improve the situation? I realize more and more that there will never be a time or place in our lives when we think we know anyone enough to be able to judge them, because we never know the deep truths of why people act the way they do. That is why only God is able to be the Judge who always judges righteously. It has often happened in my past where I was critical of someone when I soon found out afterwards why people are the way they are, and when I realized I was judging them harshly, I felt sorrow for them instead and often felt bad for mis-judging them. It reminds me when we judge critically, we always mis-judge because we can never be in a place where we can rightfully judge, which is why God is displeased when we judge and we will be judged equally by the One who is the Righteous Judge. However, we are called to judge circumstances, not people because God does tell us that we are to judge all things (1 Cor 2:15). When we stop allowing ourselves to be offended and realize that our oppressors are the real victims and pray for them, it is a liberation of following the awesome wisdom of God who is the One who knows all things and what is the best medicine for our very soul. Following His awesome wisdom, loving instructions and having a high value for His Word will always inherit peace that surpasses all understanding, joy unspeakable and full of glory. His Word will give you beauty for ashes, joy instead of mourning a garment of praise instead of heaviness (Isa 61:3). We may not understand why things happen the way they do, but that's OK. When we are told to be like a Child, a Child doesn't always understand his/her father, but they always trust and believe their father cares and loves them and a Child always believes their father knows what is best for them regardless. By putting our hopes in the One who truly does love and care for us, in the end, will never disappoint without ever having any regret. Regret always comes later to those who choose to do things their way when it contravenes the loving wisdom of His instructions. Be blessed to browse my updated blog and both websites. God bless. In the Matchless Name of Jesus Richard Associate Director Answers2Prayer http://sites.google.com/site/greatestbuilderforourlife http://www.answers2prayer.org/