The Sin of Pessimism

4:13 "I can do all things through Him who strengthens me."

We can see here by Paul’s example that pessimism is a sin.

It is easy to have a more dominating view of our unworthiness than of His great worth. It is easy to have a grander picture of the mess than we do of the Mercy. It is easy to think of the problem as bigger than the Problem-solver. BUT IT JUST AIN’T TRUE!

It is wrong to have a negative overall view of life. Sure, this world is fallen into sin, it is cursed, it’s a mess. But God’s redeeming power far outshines the gloominess of all that is bad.

Pessimists never have too big a view of sin and misery. They just have much too small a view of the power of divine grace which has burst forth upon this world in Jesus Christ. Sure the ground is cursed, but now it has become Immanuel’s land, because the feet of the Savior have walked upon it. And the fact that He walked here is more significant and more powerful than the fact that it is cursed.

Pessimism is a failure of faith. It forgets about Jesus Christ. It looks at life as though He is either small or non-existent. We have a Christ who deserves our hope and joy. He is a big Christ, and pessimism springs from blindness to His bigness.

Pessimism is of the flesh, and like all that is of the flesh, it must be resisted and repudiated. It must be admitted and confessed and repented of. Just trying to be more positive is like trying to break the habit of robbing banks without going back to deal with all past heists. We must seek forgiveness from God and from the people we have sinned against (e.g. fathers must repent before wives and children, and so forth).

O God of all hope, fill me with joy and peace in believing, that I might abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.