Welcome to the Final Day of the 7 Deadly Thoughts series! Today’s topic is Hopeless Thoughts.
Don’t forget to check out the introduction to this series if you missed it!
#7: Hopeless Thoughts
Nothing will ever get better.
When my husband and I got married, we got a beautiful duvet cover for the master bedroom. It was white with blue and green leaf embroidery, and I loved it. As you may have guessed, however, the white didn’t stay that way for long. Over the last few months, I felt like I had to wash that thing every few days just to keep it looking presentable.
So, after nearly five years of stain-fighting, I’ve given up. The battle against constant dinginess is over, and I bought a nice, solid blue comforter. Our master bedroom feels clean and new again!
So often I feel the same way about my heart the way that I felt about my shabby, white duvet cover. My soul feels tarnished and dingy, and nothing I can do seems to make a difference. It seems hopeless to try. I feel stuck in my circumstances, and even worse, my sins.
I give in to anger, fear, and unbelief. I fail to trust, pray, and obey. And no matter how much I scrub at my soul with good works, my attempts to make myself presentable to the Infinitely Holy God always fail. The battle against my heart-dinginess is one I cannot win.
But, praise the Lord, I don’t have to.
"Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow." Psalm 51:7
The battle for my holiness has already been won on my behalf. All I have to do is surrender to the one who has washed me clean. His love is great, and his salvation is perfect and permanent:
"For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his love for those who fear him; as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us." Psalm 103:11-12
When my linens become too dirty and shabby, eventually I have to run to Target and pick out new ones, but God is able to do so much more with my heart, and yours! He does not replace us, because we are never too broken for him to fix. He makes us new! He does not hide our sins like I try to hide dirt with my darker duvet cover. He completely removes our sin so it’s like it was never there at all! He makes our stained, dingy lives clean and new again. Not just temporarily, but forever.
Respond
How do you pursue God when circumstances and sin leave you feeling hopeless? What scriptures and songs encourage you in the depths?
