Sermon Illustrations

DESPAIR DEFAULT

I remember a woman years back who used to come to me about once a month ... to rehearse her troubles. And I use the word "rehearse" on purpose, because that's exactly what she did. Every time, she'd tell me the same set of complaints over and over and over again. She had her misery memorized where she could recite it the same way every time. I was young and inexperienced back then, but it didn't take me long to realize that endlessly rehearsing her troubles wasn't getting her anywhere!

Like a computer that defaults to a certain setting, some of us have a "despair default." If we don't reset our minds, we'll spiral down into despair. We need to take a cue from Jeremiah and snap out of it. Yet this I call to mind and therefore I have hope: God's mercies are new every morning!

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