Things were not always thus: Cynicism & Solipsism

Wow, it's been a while! Fortunately, even though I've not had time to blog, I've made notes of topics I want to write about.

Some time back, I was told that I am a "gung-ho kind of guy" and "not cynical." I had to pause in the conversation and gather my thoughts, because I'd become accustomed to priding myself on my sceptical outlook on life which the Austin College student ethos encourages.
I'd thought of myself as an "optimistic realist" or a "realistic idealist" since high school - but I hadn't realised the jaded, even cynical presumptions these self-imposed labels brought with them. Unwittingly, I had prided myself on being resigned to living in a sinful, broken world.
When hard times hit in college, I responded wrongly with cynicism by assuming that there were no good things in the world because of the bad things I had experienced, and with solipsism by assuming that I had experienced all there was to know about sinful brokenness in the world.

Somewhere in there, I'd lost sight of the glorious hope of the resurrection: That God is at work in this world, bringing redemption in the thick of brokenness. And that is a hope that is perfectly realistic, rooted in God's Word; simultaneously, this hope is ideal - what more could we hope for, but for this brokenness to be healed and wounds to be mended, and to be in fellowship again with our Creator as we were made to be?
So, I finally get around to writing out my thoughts, and then see a tweet to an article that says this much more eloquently than I have here: "Embracing 'Hopeful Realism'"

Moreover, there is no picture of redeeming grace more beautiful than this one, from Leviticus 26:44-45:

Yet for all that, when they are in the land of their enemies, I will not spurn them, neither will I abhor them so as to destroy them utterly and break my covenant with them, for I am the LORD their God. But I will for their sake remember the covenant with their forefathers, whom I brought out of the land of Egypt in the sight of the nations, that I might be their God: I am the LORD.

Even when we have sinned beyond all hope, God restores us to Himself because of who He is. Let us revel in this hope and praise the Name of Him who so loved us for Himself! Indeed, we can be realistic - but if we are truly realistic (and not in the smugly pseudo-academic/falsely-intelligent manner I exhibited in college), we will be truly joyful.