Psychologist Daniel Goleman describes our time as Age of Melancholy. He chronicles how depression, sadness, paralyzing listlessness, dejection, self-pity and overwhelming hopelessness plague more and more people.
In 2016, a New York Times article highlighted how suicide rates are going up. Various people tried to explain it. Some said it must be due to economic factors or low job prospects. Not a single person mentioned faith or God. Only one, Harvard professor Robert Putnam, mentioned the word “hopelessness.”
We need hope—Big Hope—against the backdrop of the despair and cynicism of our world.
This podcast (sermon) is about just that. And we want a hope that is not just theoretical or brainy, but a hope that gives us motivation and purpose in our day-to-day lives.
I explain that a knowledge about what happens at the end of history when Jesus returns and ushers in a new heaven and a new earth, works backwards into our lives and positively impacts our attitudes and lives today.
In fact, when we know what God is doing in the long term, we know what we should be doing in the short term. Or, put another way, confidence in what will be, gives confidence in how we are to be. But…
You can’t be a person of hope if you don’t know what yours is.
So do you? Hopefully this podcast will help you figure it out. Don’t let the Age of Melancholy claim another victim.
Listen in:
- Sign up for my free daily 1-minute email devotional called ‘Up!’ here.
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