10 Jul Upbeat or Beat Up? How to Stay Positive in a Negative World

Please allow me to ask you some vital questions.  As I do, please be completely honest in your assessment as honesty locates us, but dishonesty stagnates us:

1)     Are you truly happy with your life?

2)     Do you truly love your spouse and family?

3)     Do you truly enjoy your job?

4)     Do you truly enjoy your average day?

Now, please allow me to give you some simple lists about your life that will help you give much more positive answers to the above questions:

“I hate” list                                           “I love” list

– My life                                               – Chocolate

– Myself                                               – Naps

– My marriage                                      – Pastor Jim

– My job

– My house

– My car

– My attitude

Now watch what happens when everything remains the same, with the exception of one simple transfer within these lists.

“I love” list                                             “I hate” list

– MY ATTITUDE                                    – The devil

– Chocolate

– Naps

– Pastor Jim

– My life

– Myself

– My marriage

– My job

– My house

– My car

I have specifically arranged this in a humorous way but the principle is powerful.  By simply changing one thing about your life…your attitude, your “I love” list grows immensely!  Your “I hate” list dwindles down to “the devil”!  By changing one simple thing, you change your whole life!  It’s not that God doesn’t want you to have a better life, marriage, job, house and car…but you are where you are, therefore you must choose joy and peace now!  Simply hating your present doesn’t qualify you for a better tomorrow!

If you are going to have a better life, you must change how you think.  The Bible tells us in II Timothy 1:7, “God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power, of love and a sound mind.”  The Greek word for “sound” is sophron, which denotes a stable, peaceful, sound mind.

A worried mind is not a sound mind!  A fearful mind is not a sound mind!  A frustrated mind is not a sound mind!  A confused mind is not a sound mind!  A negative mind is not a sound mind!  In life, you don’t succeed by chance you succeed by choice (see Deut. 30:19).  Therefore if you want to change your life, your must change how you think (see Rev. 23:7)!

You can’t have success and think failure!  You can’t have health and think sickness!  You can’t have joy and think depression!  You can’t have peace and think worry!  Never forget the “sure enough” factor:  If you expect to succeed…sure enough you will.  If you expect to fail…sure enough you will!

So let’s have a “check up” from the neck up.  Let’s eradicate “stinkin’ thinkin’!”  Let’s be up beat, not beat up!  Let’s stay positive in a negative world!  Let’s start with addressing the subject of worry.

If we let it, there is plenty to worry about in this generation.  From the economy, national debt,Iran,Libya, terrorism, gas prices…to Charlie Sheen!  The key is not letting outside problems inside.  Let’s examine worry from a biblical perspective.

Two Wonders of Worry:

1)     Worry is trying to figure out tomorrow, today (Matt. 6:34).

To truly understand worry, you must understand who you are.  You are a spirit.  You have a soul (your mind, will and emotions).  You live in a body.  The Bible tells us to “Guard your heart, for out of it flow the issues of life” (Prov. 4:23).

Have you ever seen an old fashioned well out in the country somewhere?  You know the one I’m referring to…a well covered by a little roof.  It usually has a little bucket that you can lower and raise to retrieve water.  In the 1800’s, farmers would dig wells so they could enjoy water.  Invariably, however, animals would fall into the well, die and contaminate the whole water system.  As a matter of fact, an entire family died in the 1800’s and all of the deaths were traced back to a pig falling into their well which contaminated the water system.  So they had to start building walls around their well in order to keep their water system from being contaminated.  Likewise, we must build a wall around our spirit in order not to “contaminate” it!

Let me define worry for you:  worry is the mind’s fruitless search for life’s answers.  You see, the mind is a wonderful thing but it doesn’t have all the answers.  Your mind can only give you what you program into it.  The Bible tells us that “the answer comes from the Lord” (see Proverbs 16:1).  This is an answer to any problem you are presently facing (see James 1:5, I Corinthians 10:13)!  However, your answer is not going to come from your mind, it will come from your Lord.  This is when worry begins…when we search for life’s answers in our mind and can’t find them.  If we contaminate our “well” (spirit) with worry, we will actually impede our ability to hear from the Lord.

The Bible tells us in I Peter 1:15, “But as he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation”.   We simply can’t let our mind just run loose chasing after any negative thought that pops into our head!  The Greek word for “gird” is anazunomi.  It is a compound word, “ana” which means “again” and “zunomi” which means “belt”.  The word translated “loins” is the Greek word osphus which means “procreative power”.  In other words, what you think about “multiplies”.   So Peter, by the Holy Spirit, is telling us we must continually (again and again) “belt” the “private parts” of our life, as what we continually mind, we will eventually find!

I work out with weights four times a week.  I will often wear a weight belt to gird my core section and therefore give support to my lower back.  About a year ago, I was in a push-up contest with a professional boxer in my church.  We were seeing how many push-ups we could do in one day.  That day I did 3,200 push-ups but made the mistake of not wearing a weight belt.  That night when I got up to use the rest room, something had slipped in my lower back and I was in excruciating pain.  I prayed and went back to bed, and woke up healed!  However, I will not make that mistake next time.  I will wear a “weight belt” lest something slip!

In the same vein, God is telling us to take His Word and gird up our mind.  You see, when you are worried about your kids, you can’t receive answers about your kids!  When you are worried about your finances, you can’t receive answers about your finances!  When you are worried about your body, you can’t receive answers about your body!  When you are worried about your job, you can’t receive answers about your job!

Remember this, the devil wants you in the fear of the future or the guilt of the past…you keep him in the now of faith!

Next week we’ll continue our series!