Romans 8:18-25: THE SECRET TO BEING A POSITIVE THINKER
Have you ever heard someone say, “You should think more positively. You should be a positive thinker.” Sometimes that’s easy. Sometimes, it’s not.
For example, think about the flooding in Texas. I read about one man down there, whose house had been destroyed by a flood four years ago. Now, his house has been destroyed again. What do you think would happen is you would walk up to him and say to him, “Don’t worry. Just think positive.” What do you think he’d say? He’d probably say something like, “You know, I thought that way four years ago. I thought positive. I rebuilt my house. But it didn’t work. Things will get better. But look at my house now – it’s ruined.
There’s a huge fire going on in Quebec, Canada. Thousands of acres are being burned, and there’s so much smoke that it’s stretching down to Washington DC. Imagine seeing that fire edge closer and closer to your home, and someone walks up to you and says, “Don’t worry, just think positive.” Would that make you feel better? Will thinking positive thoughts keep the fire from destroying your home?
A few years ago, a friend of mine and I were training for a marathon. Yes, it’s true, I was actually going to run a marathon. One day I felt a twinge in my foot, something was wrong. There was some pain. “Just think positive,” someone told me. After going to various doctors and therapists, trying different forms of rehab, it’s still hard for me to run. I can walk. But playing basketball – anything to do with running for an extended period of time – I can’t do it. Thinking positive thoughts did not make my foot better.
What happens when you think positive, and things don’t work out? You can become cynical and negative. You can become someone who is always complaining, who is always down. It’s good to be a positive thinker. But how do you do it? How can you be a positive thinker when things are always going wrong in the world, and in your own life? What’s the secret?
Today, we’re going to discuss the secret to being a positive thinker. In Romans chapter 8, the Apostle Paul, guided by the Holy Spirit, writes to a group of Christians living in Rome. These people in Rome were experiencing some of the same difficulties you face today. Paul wanted to give them hope, to give them a real reason to be joyful and upbeat and positive, and so he wrote these words that we are going to be looking at today. May God bless you as you listen, as you ponder the secret to being a positive thinker.
There are actually two secrets. Secret number one, is that you don’t get caught up in the “here and now.” Look at verse 22: “We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth up to the present time.” Nature is groaning – nature is pictured as a woman in labor. Imagine that you were having a baby, and that you were experiencing eight hours of painful labor. As you were going through that labor, what would your attitude be? Would you be caught up in the “here and now”? Or would you be looking forward to the future? You wouldn’t be caught up in the “here and now.” The “here and now” is painful and tiring. Our world, nature, is like a woman in labor – “the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth up to the present time.” Nature has been in labor for thousands of years.
It all began when Adam and Eve fell into sin. Verse 20 tells us that “The creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it.” Plants, animals, fish, birds, anything in creation - all those things subjected to frustration. When sin entered the world, it not only ruined mankind, it also ruined nature. Animals and plants and everything else in nature was supposed to glorify God. Everything was supposed to be perfectly peaceful.
But that’s not how it is. There are torrential rains in Texas. There are fires out west and in Canada. There’s pollution. Certain animals are becoming extinct. Trees and plants are catching diseases. These are the sounds of nature groaning. Nature can be beautiful, at times, but it’s also a place of death and decay. Nature is pictured as a person in the Bible, frustrated, because it can’t glorify God the way it wants to. Creation is also pictured as someone in labor – not focusing on the here and now, because the here and now is frustrating and painful.
You and I are experiencing the same thing as nature, and that’s why secret number one is – don’t focus on the here and now. It’s painful and frustrating. Verse 18 talks about our “present sufferings.” Verse 23 talks about how, just as the world is groaning in labor, “not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, grown inwardly.” Just as the world experiences fires and floods and droughts, so also you and I experience problems in this life.
What problems do you think those first-century Romans had? I’m sure they had physical problems like us. Financial problems. Relationship problems. I’m sure they experienced persecution for what they believed. The Devil was doing all he could to make those Christians in Rome miserable. That’s how it is for you today. The Devil doesn’t want Christianity to be an enjoyable experience for you, so he will bring things into your life that you really don’t want. Things like financial problems, or health problems. Problems at work, or at home. Maybe you’ll even experience some tension, some persecution in your life because you are a Christian. Maybe the Devil will torment you with guilt as he reminds you of all the different ways you have failed to live your faith. These are the present sufferings talked about in the Bible. Secret number one, is that we don’t get caught up in the here and now. Instead, we recognize that the here and now is a time when things just don’t always work out the way we would like.
That doesn’t mean that we have permission to wallow in self-pity, or that we can sit around all depressed. And that doesn’t mean that we should never try or do anything. That’s where secret number two comes into play. Secret number two is this – a Christian is an “eager expecter.”
Nature is described as an “eager expecter.” Verse 19: “The creation waits in eager expectation for the sons of God to be revealed in us.” Animals, plants, the land, the sea – they’re not caught up in the here and now. Instead, they’re all waiting for something in eager expectation. Remember how we said that nature is like a woman in labor? A woman in labor is an eager expecter, isn’t she. She’s going through pain, but she’s eagerly expecting a child. Nature is also waiting for the “sons of God to be revealed in us.” No one really knows who the true believers are. That will be revealed on Judgment Day, and that’s what nature is waiting for. The creation is described as a person, filled with hope, hope “that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God.” Someday, the creation will be liberated - no more floods, no more forest fires, no more droughts, no more pollution, no more death and decay. On Judgment Day, nature will be liberated, and when the sons of God are revealed, the true Christians, then it will be “brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God.” Finally, it will be able to glorify God the way it was supposed to before the fall into sin.
Nature is an “eager expecter” of Judgement Day. And so are we. Just like the world, we also are groaning, because of all the problems we face. But it’s a groan of hope, “as we wait eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies.” This passage is talking about Judgement Day. As a Christian – you have a lot to look forward to on Judgment Day. Each one of you will be publicly acknowledged as a son of God, a true believer. Your body will be redeemed – in other words, your body will be raised from the dead – all the problems you experience will be gone, and you will be perfect, and you will be able to perfectly glorify God without any sin, without any problems getting in the way. The secret to being a positive thinker is to be an “eager expecter” of Judgment Day.
Here’s what an “eager expecter” sounds like: “I know that I am a sinner, and that I deserve to be condemned on Judgment Day. But I eagerly expect that God will forgive me – I know he will, because Jesus has taken my sins away at the cross.”
“I know that I’m not very good at glorifying God in my daily life – I’m weak and selfish and sinful. But I eagerly expect that on Judgment Day, God will turn me into a new person who will worship him perfectly.
“I know that I’m getting older, that my body has aches and pains, sicknesses and injuries. I’m not able to do all the things I want to do. But I eagerly expect that this same body on Judgment Day will be raised from the dead, and will be transformed into a perfect body that will perfectly glorify God.”
“I know that not everyone agrees with my beliefs. Some people look at me like I’m an old-fashioned, naive, narrow-minded idiot. Some people even talk to me or treat me that way. But I eagerly expect that on Judgment Day, I will be revealed as a true son of God, and that God will bless me for being faithful to him.
“I know that the world in which I live is a mess. There’s terrorism. There are all kinds of natural disasters. Our world can be beautiful at times, and enjoyable, but often, it is a mess. I eagerly expect that someday, on Judgment Day, things will get better. I eagerly expect that God will wipe out this world, and start over, and will make a new world better and more beautiful than anything I can imagine right now.
If you want to be a positive thinker, then be an eager expecter. That really is the definition of a Christian – someone who is eagerly expecting Christ to return on Judgment Day. Verse 24: “For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what he already has?” That’s not us. An eager expecter is someone who is hoping for things he does not yet have. Verse 25: “But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently.” An eager expecters is also a patient expecter. We are patient, because we know that God is never late, he’s always on time, and when it’s the perfect time, he will give us everything we’ve been waiting for.
The two secrets to being a positive thinker: don’t get caught up in the here and now, and be an eager expecter. When you are evacuated from your home, and it’s swept away in a flood. When you’re house burns down. When your body doesn’t work the way you want it to. When people don’t treat you well, because you believe in Christ, when things just aren’t going your way, don’t get caught up in the here and now, and be an eager expecter. Remember verse 18: “I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.” On the big scale of life, our future glory far outweighs are present problems.
Someday, someone might ask you, what makes you tick? How can you be so peaceful, so calm, even though the world, and you, experience all kinds of problems? What will you say? What makes you tick? You can say, “Because I know something better is coming. A better world. A better me. A better relationship with God. A better relationship with others. I am the way I am because I know that something better is coming. Christ is coming” Let that be for you your comfort, your hope, your secret to being a positive thinker. Amen.
