In my two previous posts I urged us to be winsome witnesses to others who are watching how we live our lives. Winsome: appealing, engaging, captivating. As opposed to judging, condemning, repelling.

In the most recent post I gave us the second of 5 Life Attitudes that serves as a ​winsome witness: ​Choose Joy. You may want to read that if you haven’t already.

Each Life Attitude deserves time for thought and personal reflection. As you read each one, please consider the following brief prayer:

“Search me, God, and know my heart;
test me and know my anxious thoughts.
See if there is any offensive way in me,
and lead me in the way everlasting.”
– Psalm 139:23-24 (NIV)

I will, too.

3. Overflow with Hope

When I refer to hope here, I don’t mean hope as the world uses that word: wishful thinking. I much prefer focusing on the concept of hope, as it’s used in Scripture: as a sure thing, a wise choice with firm confidence in who God is, rather than in our ability to make things happen. 

One of my favorite verses in all of Scripture is Romans 15:13:“May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.” 

As we trust in God, we get quantities of joy and peace that pass understanding. Then as if filling us wasn’t enough, he pours in so much hope that it spills over the brim. God is not stingy with hope. 

What if he were to allow that overflow of hope to splash from us onto others?! Our hope can overflow, not through our own effort, piety, or creative attempts to concoct it. It’s evident from this verse that the source of this influence is not just human effort on our part, but rather, the power of the Holy Spirit at work through us.