Archives for December 2019

The Paradox of Humility

December 23, 2019 by Matt Pavlik 2 Comments

No one can claim they are the humblest person in the world with much credibility. But those of us who struggle with self-worth know that confidence is equally elusive.

Somehow though, confidence and humility are the same thing. If you are confident (but not arrogant), you’ll also be humble. And if you’re humble (but not engaging in false humility), you’ll also be confident.

Doesn’t that seem strange that appropriate confidence, the kind God wants us to have, is also a way to express humility? I mean strange in the sense that confident probably isn’t the first word that comes to mind when you think of humility. But how could it be any other way?

God who is all powerful clothed Himself with humanity. If there is a paradox, Jesus represents it perfectly.

To be strong doesn’t mean to be closed or unreachable. God’s strength is approachable. Jesus’s birth offers us the greatest hope possible.

We are creatures of habit. Once we know how to do something, we go on autopilot.

If you’ve ever experienced a negative, false belief about yourself, you know firsthand the intense struggle that is required to put off the false and put on the truth.

You can’t have confidence and humility without also having peace and joy.

Then Jesus said, “Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you. Let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle at heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy to bear, and the burden I give you is light.”
Matthew 11:28-30 NLT

In your quest to become more confident and humble, remember that it feels like peace, joy, and rest. I bless you now with rest for your soul. Amen.

Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay

Hope for the Holidays

December 15, 2019 by Matt Pavlik Leave a Comment

The holidays at the end of the year tend to be polarizing. You could find yourself at the North Pole, visiting Santa. Or, you could find yourself at the South pole, all alone.

If life has gone well for you throughout the year, then Christmas is the ultimate celebration with friends or family (or both!). It’s like having your favorite dessert with your favorite topping. It’s not essential, but it sure tastes good.

If life hasn’t been going well, December might be cause to emphasize how terribly lonely you feel. That could be like your car breaks down, and you have no place to go for Christmas. You might wonder, What else is going to go wrong?

Life can be cruel sometimes. You can make the extra effort to be nice or work hard to complete a project at work, but the reward doesn’t come. Maybe even just the opposite happens: you are rejected and betrayed by an important person in your life or you lose your job (or both!).

What next? Is there hope for you? Has God abandoned you? It probably feels like He has.

God is Aware of Life’s Ups and Downs

God is aware of all the times when life disappoints. He’s wired into our hearts such a desire for good things. So, of course, He expects you to feel disappointed when your expectations aren’t met. This doesn’t mean you should throw out your expectations.

Your desire for life to go smoothly and to be able to enjoy your days is essential.

Your ability to hold onto hope when life doesn’t go smoothly is equally essential.

Somehow God wants you to aim for the highest and best possible outcomes, accept all (short-term) setbacks, and continue in faith and hope. Share on X

Giving up on God is the ultimate expression of hopelessness. Loneliness, boredom, and hopelessness are really just natural consequences of not seeing God’s reality. You’ve lost everything if you’ve lost sight of God’s reality.

God Hasn’t Forgotten You

God still loves you. His love hasn’t changed. You can rest in this fact. Isn’t that what we most want to know during difficult times? You’re not experiencing catastrophic news meant to permanently shut the way to all hope. God is still with you amidst the chaos.

Your chance is coming. How do I know this? God is good. To want to not be lonely is a good thing. It’s hard to feel hopeless and not also feel lonely. It’s equally hard to feel lonely and also not feel hopeless. But if this is true, then the opposite is equally true: if you’re connected to someone, it’s hard to not feel hopeful.

Knowing you are connected to someone on a regular basis is essential to emotional well-being.

Even when you are alone, you won’t feel so lonely if you’re feeling hopeful. Hope comes from faith in Jesus and what He promises.

This Christmas, focus on seeing God’s reality. Ask God to help you believe and you’ll have hope for the holidays. Your heart will be home for Christmas.

Image by Pawel Kozera from Pixabay

Faith Hope and Love

December 7, 2019 by Matt Pavlik 1 Comment

The Three Pillars of the Soul are Your Greatest Assets

In the famous “Love Chapter” of the Bible, the Apostle Paul concludes a masterpiece on human relationships with a definitive statement:

And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.
1 Corinthians 13:13 NIV

While we often focus on love, it is important to realize that Paul presents these three as a set. They are the tripod of the spiritual life; if one leg is missing, the structure collapses. For anyone feeling spiritually exhausted or directionless, understanding the distinct roles of faith, hope, and love isn’t just an academic exercise—it is the key to finding a steady rhythm in a chaotic world.

The Root: Faith is Trusting a Person

We often treat faith as a vague “feeling,” but biblical faith is much more robust. It is the “root” system of your spiritual life.

Faith and trust are inseparable. If you have faith, you are actively placing your weight on the character and person of Jesus Christ. You cannot have a vibrant faith without trust, just as you cannot sit in a chair without trusting that it will hold you.

Faith precedes hope:

Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.
Hebrews 11:1 NIV

This tells us that faith is the substance—it is the ground you stand on today so that you can look toward tomorrow. Faith is the conviction that the One who made the promises is not only capable of keeping them, but He will keep them without fail. Without faith, our desires for the future are just wishful thinking; faith is what gives our hope its “teeth.”

The Oxygen: Hope is Trusting a Promise

If faith is the root, hope is the flower that reaches toward the sun. While faith is built on our current stance and our history with God’s faithfulness, hope is inherently forward-looking. It is the excitement and “blessed assurance” of an anticipated event.

Biblical hope is different from worldly “wishing.” You can “hope” it doesn’t snow tomorrow, but that is a hope built on a vacuum because no one promised you clear skies. However, when we have faith in Jesus, we aren’t just wishing; we are trusting in a guaranteed outcome.

If Jesus never promised us anything, there would be no need for hope. Faith would be enough.

For in this hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees?
Romans 8:24 ESV

Hope is the fuel that carries us across the finish line. It is the spiritual oxygen that allows us to breathe when the present moment feels suffocating. It tells us that the current chapter is not the end of the book. Through faith, we have a hope that doesn’t just exist—it carries us along.

The Source: Love is the Heartbeat of Faith and Hope

Why is love the greatest? Because love is the “why” behind the “what.”

If Jesus were not the embodiment of love, He would have no reason to provide a way for us to trust Him, nor would He have provided the promises we hope in (Ephesians 2:8-9). Love is the primary mover. It is the greatest because it involves the most risk and the highest sacrifice. Love is what drove Christ to sacrifice everything to bridge the gap between us and God.

Anyone can hope for their own benefit, and many can believe in a set of facts. But few truly love. To love is to sacrifice; it is to put another’s value above your own comfort. It is also the only one of the three that will continue into eternity. In heaven, our faith will become sight and our hope will be fully realized, but love will simply go on forever.

Why You Need the Full Tripod

A healthy spiritual life requires the balance of all three. Without this balance, our walk with God can become lopsided:

Faith without Hope is a dry, intellectual assent—you believe God is real, but you don’t actually expect Him to move in your future.
Hope without Faith is a fragile dream—you want things to get better, but you have no foundation to believe they actually will.
Faith and Hope without Love is cold and mechanical—it feels like a legal contract rather than a vibrant relationship.

When you have all three, you become resilient. You have a faith that stabilizes you in the storm, a hope that gives you a reason to keep sailing, and a love that makes the entire journey worth the effort.

Summary for the Heart

Faith is trusting the Person.
Hope is trusting the Promises of the Person.
Love is the Person that makes both possible.

Anyone can hope. Many people believe in something. They trust and have faith. Few truly love.

Image by Free-Photos from Pixabay
Last updated 20260503