Recently, something happened that resulted in my being disappointed, and because of the disappointment, I became discouraged. Our emotions reflect what our mind is set on, and therefore, my feelings of discouragement were the result of my mind coming into agreement with thoughts of disappointment. I wrestled with this for the better part of an afternoon, and then, at some point, I stopped thinking and started listening. Jesus then spoke to me (in me) these words; “Chuck, I don’t do discouragement.” I knew what Jesus was saying. He was saying to me that he never gets discouraged, and therefore, I was choosing to not abide in Him.
Jesus told his disciples in John 14:1, “Let not your hearts be troubled.” The grammar is actually a command, and it would be better written like this, “Stop letting your heart hearts be troubled.” These are words, of course, for all of us. Jesus is basically saying, “Don’t let your hearts be ruled by what you see. Let them be ruled by what I see instead.”
Jesus doesn’t see things through the lenses of disappointment. He always sees things through the lens of faith, and we are called to live “by the faith of the Son of God.” – Galatians 2:20 KJV. I knew that Jesus was inviting me to repent and to sink into him once again abiding in, and living from his life, and how he sees.
1 Thessalonians 5:16, 18 says, “Rejoice always… in everything give thanks.” It’s impossible to genuinely rejoice, with thanksgiving in your heart, and be disappointed at the same time.
The mind of Christ is a prisoner of hope. If your thoughts aren’t captivated with hope, then they’ve been captured by the enemy. A troubled heart is a consequence of a deceived mind. The mind of Christ is never deceived and, therefore, never disappointed; thus, Jesus “doesn’t do discouragement.”