"Famous Last Words"

When I think of the wisdom and scope of God's plan, I fall to my knees and pray to the Father, the Creator of everything in heaven and on earth. I pray that from his glorious, unlimited resources he will give you mighty inner strength through his Holy Spirit. And I pray that Christ will be more and more at home in your hearts as you trust in him. May your roots go down deep into the soil of God's marvelous love. And may you have the power to understand, as all God's people should, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep his love really is. May you experience the love of Christ, though it is so great you will never fully understand it. Then you will be filled with the fullness of life and power that comes from God. Now glory be to God! By his mighty power at work within us, he is able to accomplish infinitely more than we would ever dare to ask or hope. May he be given glory in the church and in Christ Jesus forever and ever through endless ages. (Ephesians 3:14-21 NLV).

These were some of Paul’s “last words.” He wrote them while imprisoned and waiting Nero’s judgment. They are full of optimism inspired by his deep sense of faith in the promise of God. There are plenty of opportunities in our lives to choose between optimistic faith and pessimistic belief. Consider the following “proclamations”:

 "This 'telephone' has too many shortcomings to be seriously considered as a means of communication. The device is inherently of no value to us." --Western Union internal memo, 1876.
 "Everything that can be invented has been invented." --Charles H. Duell, Commissioner, U.S. Office of Patents, 1899.
 "The wireless music box has no imaginable commercial value. Who would pay for a message sent to nobody in particular?" --David Sarnoff's associates in response to his urgings for investment in the radio in the 1920s.
 "I think there is a world market for maybe five computers." --Thomas Watson, chairman of IBM, 1943
 "Computers in the future may weigh no more than 1.5 tons." --Popular Mechanics, forecasting the relentless march of science, 1949
 "I have traveled the length and breadth of this country and talked with the best people, and I can assure you that data processing is a fad that won't last out the year." --The editor in charge of business books for Prentice Hall, 1957
 "But what ... is it good for?" --Engineer at the Advanced Computing Systems Division of IBM, 1968, commenting on the microchip.
 "There is no reason anyone would want a computer in their home." --Ken Olson, president, chairman and founder of Digital Equipment Corp., 1977
 "640K ought to be enough for anybody." -- Bill Gates, 1981

It's amazing that we've accomplished so much technologically in this country considering the pessimistic views held by so many, some of them coming from people who at one time held the pessimistic views themselves! What is your vision for the future? What would you like to accomplish? More to the point, what would you like to see God accomplish through you? There will likely be someone around you ready to tell you that "it can't be done", or "we've tried that before with no success", or "it's too much trouble". Now glory be to God! By his mighty power at work within us, he is able to accomplish infinitely more than we would ever dare to ask or hope. May the God who can do more than we can even imagine be with you this day!