Being Positive in a Negative World
Jeff E. Zhorne
Read here how to face life's cares and stresses. It does take more than
mental gymnastics.
"YOU OUGHT to be able to write on being positive," said the editors of this
magazine when the staff asked me to write this article.
"After all, you just got engaged!"
The fact is, right now I'm having difficulty being positive. Yes, I am engaged
to be married in little less than two months. But I just found out this week
that my only car a 1966 Volvo threw a rod into the block.
In other words, the mechanic says, I need a whole new engine.
Great news, particularly as every penny my fiancιe and I have is devoted make
that was devoted to the wedding, honeymoon, apartment and so forth.
Life Does Get Tough
For most of us, life gets tough at one time or another. Each day a barrage of
petty troubles and some not so petty lies in waiting, ready to explode upon
us as soon as we get up in the morning. Devastating things can happen: personal
unhappiness, family tragedy, business failure. These circumstances infect the
mind, gnaw at the emotions and threaten to destroy the heart of a person.
Workers may begin a business day enthusiastically, but after brusque criticisms
from colleagues, bosses or just fellow drivers on a crowded highway, the day
degenerates, producing a negative frame of mind.
At home we read newspapers or watch television news filled with distressing
stories about rapes, child abuse, theft and other crimes.
If that's not bad enough, we find areas of the worldwide economy in uncertain
straits. Add to that the ever-present threat of nuclear war. Meanwhile, our
bodies are growing older, the car more decrepit, the savings account thinner.
What a negative picture! Yet it need not be this way.
Life, of course, has its peaks and valleys. It's hard not to focus on troubles
of the moment. There is, however, reason to be really positive!
And it doesn't involve a contrived, artificial, pie-in-the-sky frame of mind.
More than Positive Thinking
The common panacea for defeating negativism, according to some books and
magazines, is to force your mind to think positively.
Just shut out the negative, they tout. You need only to realize how fortunate
you are, that for the first time in all the difficult centuries of humankind you
no longer need to work from early morning until late at night, six days a week,
just to earn enough to keep food on the table.
This article, by contrast, points to something that supersedes the realm of
merely telling yourself, "Everything is going to be all right," or, "You can
solve all your problems on your own."
There is, fortunately, one true source of spiritual knowledge about everything
pure, good, uplifting and positive. That is the Bible. It reveals knowledge
essential for man. The Bible is an instruction book by our Maker. It teaches
that the first man, Adam, rejected the laws of God that give purpose to life.
Ever since, the human race has been engaged in the futile quest of trying to
discover a way of life that will bring lasting peace and happiness.
If we analyze the contents of the Bible as the foundation of knowledge we find
the example of King David, who, despite constant adversity, refused to despair
and give up his faith in the Almighty God. Yet it wasn't David's faith it was
the faith of God in him!
Young David before he became king was often fleeing for his life, once eluding
an army of 3,000 highly trained commandos commissioned to track him down and
kill him (I Sam. 26). When in peril David didn't talk himself into looking on
the bright side. He relied on God for help because he knew God was with him.
And herein lies the key to being positive having the faith of God. Without
faith the natural mind will remain selfish and negative. Even when David made
mistakes a totally loyal and faithful God stayed with him. Why? Because David
was always sorry for his mistakes and sins. He always repented of his sins and
changed.
David was a positive thinker God's way. "I have set the Lord always before me;
because He is at my right hand I shall not be moved" (Ps. 16:8, Revised
Authorized Version throughout). Notice the feeling and emotion David put into
that statement "I shall not be moved"!
David's confidence in God rather than himself carried him over, around and
through the mountainous obstacles in his life. Because he prayed often and
thought about God's laws continually (Ps. 55:17; 1:2), he thought positively.
Yet that wasn't all.
Life Must Have Purpose
David kept his mind focused on his purpose in life. He knew that humanity was
put on earth eventually to become God's very own sons, one day to rule over
earth's nations as ever-living spirit beings (Ps. 2:7-8). God revealed to David
that if he chose to obey God, he could live forever (Ps. 23:6; 36:9; 89:28-29;
149:4)!
Talk about motivation! No wonder David praised God so intensely. He realized God
alone possesses by nature eternal life (Ps. 62:2, 5-7). And man can partake of
that same nature! David's afflictions and troubles, though harrowing and
upsetting, were ameliorated by trust and confidence in God.
The Psalms aren't just reserved, quiet chapters designed to rock you to sleep.
They describe David's heartfelt thoughts. In Psalm 27:3 David trusts God
absolutely to deliver him. "Though an army should encamp against me, my heart
shall not fear; though war should rise against me, in this I will be confident."
We may have this same faith today to carry us through our daily problems and
tests. Yet this faith cannot be conjured of oneself. It is strictly a gift from
God (Eph. 2:8).
Let's look at a New Testament example. The apostle Paul suffered more trials and
tests than most of us ever will. Paul was beaten with rods and lashed with a
cat-o'-nine-tails, stoned, imprisoned, lost at sea, shipwrecked, robbed and went
without food and water (II Cor. 11:23-28).
Paul too had the vision. He, like David, knew his purpose in life. Hence, with
God at the controls, he could confidently proclaim: "All things work together
for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His
purpose" (Rom. 8:28).
True, Paul at times had difficulty being positive (Heb. 12:11), but he knew God
would never forsake him (Heb. 13:5). "We are hard pressed on every side, yet not
crushed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not forsaken;
struck down, but not destroyed" (II Cor. 4:8-9).
There is also a who's who of Bible personalities whose faith was alive! It's in
Hebrews 11. They relied on God to shoulder their burdens. They realized that if
God could be for them, then who could possibly be against them? (Rom. 8:31.)
Where does that leave us? Just as God promised never to forsake David, Paul and
others, he promises not to forsake us either, if we turn to him and live a
different, positive, obedient life by the faith of our Savior, Jesus Christ.
That begins with deep, sincere repentance like David expressed in Psalm 51. Then
comes laying aside your old ways and habits symbolically in water baptism. God
then promises you the receiving of the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:38).
Problems are necessary building blocks of life even a life led by the Spirit
of God. We read: "In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while, if
need be, you have been grieved by various trials, that the genuineness of your
faith, being much more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by
fire, may be found to praise, honor, and glory at the revelation of Jesus
Christ" (I Pet. 1:6-7). Trials, then, strengthen our character.
When we think life has dealt us a rotten hand, that the road is too rough, all
the canty, pull-yourself-up-by-your-own-bootstraps thinking in the world won't
work at least not for very long.
Without the premier purpose and direction in life that we were created to
become God humans have only this uncertain, temporary life in which to place
hope and confidence.
Through his Spirit, God transmits precious faith that enables one to rise above
the threat of nuclear genocide, crime and other perils. To the righteous God
pledges: "Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord delivers him
out of them all" (Ps. 34:19).
"The glory of the Lord shall be your rear guard. Then you shall call, and the
Lord will answer; you shall cry, and He will say, 'Here I am'" (Isa. 58:8-9).
With such monumental promises from God, the true Christian can radiate a
cheerful optimism even in adversity. Former U.S. President Gerald Ford touched
on that optimism in a speech he made shortly after leaving office in 1976:
"It is not an easy transition, but with the help of one's family and friends and
with the conviction that God works His own purposes in each of our lives, it is
easier to see that leaving the White House is not the end of the world but
simply the beginning of a new chapter in one's life."
God has promised to provide faith from above that gives hope and encouragement
even through the toughest of times. "He gives power to the weak, and to those
who have no might He increases strength. Even the youths shall faint and be
weary, and the young men shall utterly fall, but those who wait on the Lord
shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they
shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not be faint" (Isa. 40:29-31).
God Wants the Best for Us
God wishes that we live an abundant life of accomplishment and fulfillment (John
10:10), yet not without tests and trials.
I recall the faith expressed by my father. When I was about 14, he deeply
desired to live in the country, a choice 40 acres of land in East Texas, with
plenty of room to graze Hereford cattle and a pond to raise ducks.
At the time, we lived in tract housing in a small town, which, although
pleasant, was a town, nevertheless. he longed for the country life. Somehow he
knew God would provide and told me later he prayed earnestly for a promise found
in Psalm 37:4: "Delight yourself also in the Lord, and He shall give you the
desires of your heart."
Our family regularly visited "our" land. "Here's where we'll put a house," I
remember my father saying confidently. "Over there we'll dig a well. We'll build
our own sewage, system."
The only problem the land wasn't for sale. My father had to convince them to
sell it. He trusted God in intense prayer. While the owner took weeks to decide,
we loaded a truck with all our earthly possessions and stacked them under the
largest pine tree on the land. "Sometimes you have to step out in faith," my
father said.
Though the owner finally agreed to sell, I remember a delay in escrow came next.
My father remained unflinching, looking to God. The following week my father
moved a three-bedroom trailer onto the land, in faith that all the legal and
financial proceedings would follow through.,
He did build a well and sewer, and we raised cattle on that land for almost 10
years. Eventually the trailer was replaced with a brick house. My father's faith
given to him by his Creator has proved inspirational to me many times since.
True Christians those who possess God's Holy Spirit and live by every word of
God enjoy contentment and satisfaction. To them God gives powerful faith to
find solutions to problems and to drive out fear, discouragement and worry. They
radiate cheerfulness and smiles. They show love, sincerity, vigor, calm and
goodwill toward others, instead of being self-conscious with so much
over interest in themselves.
Back to my Volvo. Faith alone will not replace my engine nor cause the sky to
rain money. But Christ's faith does enable me to trust God absolutely for help.
"But God is faithful, who will not allow you to be [tested] beyond what you are
able, but with the [trial] will also make the way of escape, that you may be
able to bear it" (I Cor. 10:13).
Since God cares for birds, animals and flowers, he promises to surely care for
us if we obey him (Matt. 6:25-34).
If you truly believe God's written word the Bible obstacles won't dictate
your attitude, for that living, practical faith will never fail you.
It would be easy to become discouraged and depressed even give up if one
didn't have anything to live for, if one didn't believe God who guarantees that
with him nothing will be impossible (Luke 1:37).
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