By Chris WittsThursday 1 Dec 2022Morning Devotions with Chris WittsFaithReading Time: 1 minute
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Transcript:
In Part 1 we talked about our attitude and I said that no matter what happens today, if you look for the good things my guess is you will actually find them. So, what is a positive person?
Becoming A Positive Person
A positive person is not one who refuses to recognise the negative—they know there are plenty of negatives out there—but who refuses to dwell on them. Remember there is always the negative and the positive in every person or situation.
And what a positive person does is develop the habit of looking for the best results even from the worst conditions. It’s always possible to look for something good, even when things look bad. And the remarkable fact is that when you look after and seek good you will find it. People tend to find what they are looking for. What are you looking for—negative or positive?
For example, let’s apply this principle to a marriage. In your marriage if you’re always looking for the faults—what is wrong, centering just on the negative—you are going to be dissatisfied with your marriage. In addition you’ll not bring out the best but rather the worst in your mate. Consequently your whole marriage is going to fall into a nit-picking, negative, destructive cycle.
How do you break this kind of cycle in your marriage? Start looking for what is good and focus on that. If you want things to work out in life—if you want a good attitude—you need to focus on the positive. Look for the good in every situation and every person, and you will find it.
Taking Charge of our Thought Life
I do suggest also: take charge of your thought life. Proverbs 4:23 says, “Carefully guard your thoughts, because they are the source of true life”. What does that actually mean? The Bible has a tremendous way of getting right to the problem, because God knows our thought life needs working on.
The Scriptures also say: “Fix your thoughts on what is true and good and right. Think about things that are pure and lovely, and dwell on the fine, good things in others. Think about all you can praise God for and be glad about.” (Philippians 4:8 TLB). We are not to let our mind wander all over the place, but rather we are to take command of it and choose positive thoughts over negative ones.
Guard your heart above all else, for it determines the course of your life. (Proverbs 4:23 NLT)
Would you eat out of a garbage can that not only had garbage in it, but had maggots, poisons, etc. To do so would be suicide. Well, the same principle applies if you want to really take control of your thought life—you need to filter the garbage out there.
What are you feeding your mind today ? It matters what we feed our physical body, doesn’t it? Many diseases we have today—from cancer, heart disease to no energy—result from an improper diet. It is a fact that eating the wrong things can hurt you. But it is not enough to just stop eating the bad, is it? Because if we do not start eating the good we will starve.
In the same way it’s not enough to only filter out the garbage from our minds, we also have to feed on the good. The old idea of ‘garbage in, garbage out’ is still true. There are many sources of good things: good books, good music, lots of things you can actually think about. But the greatest source of good thoughts is God’s Word, the Bible. Feed your mind on verses such as Ephesians 3:20, Isaiah 41:10, Philippians 4:19, Hebrews 13:6.
Replacing Negative with Positive
Never surrender leadership to the negative—always look for the positive. When you feel the mighty onslaught of a negative emotion, how do you handle it? I suggest the best thing is to: admit it; face it, but don’t give in to it. You see, one way to destroy a negative emotion is to replace it with a positive one. For example, you can replace:
- anger with love
- fear with faith
- complaining with gratitude
- bitterness with forgiveness
- judgement with acceptance
- feeling sorry for yourself with helping someone else.
Learn to pray out your emotions. Learn to cry them out and pray them out until you pray through to victory. Did you know that Jesus prayed aloud and with emotion? In Hebrews 5:7, we read; “During the days of Jesus’ life on earth, he offered up prayers and petitions with loud cries and tears to the one who could save him form death and he was heard because of His reverent submission…”
In other words Jesus shows us here by his own example how to pray out negative emotions to our heavenly father. Hebrews 4:15, teaches us that Jesus, our High Priest, “is touched by the feelings of our weaknesses…”
Getting Along with Ourselves
I think one of the big issues for us is this:
- What is the attitude towards ourselves?
- How do you feel about yourself?
- How do you view yourself?
This introduces the topic of the awesome power of attitude or, putting it another way, getting along with the most significant person in your life. Do you know who is the most significant person in your life? The person we are going to talk about is the key to all of your relationships. If you don’t have a good attitude toward this person, you are not going to get along very well with anyone. That person is you.
J. Martin Kohe in his book Your Greatest Power tells about an explorer who went to the wilds of Africa. He took a number of trinkets with him for the natives. Among the trinkets were two full length mirrors. He placed these mirrors against two trees and sat down to talk to some of his men about the exploration.
While talking, the explorer noticed that a savage approached the mirror with a spear in his hand. As he looked into the mirror he saw his reflection. He began to jab at his opponent in the mirror as though he was a real person, going through all the motions of killing him. Of course, he broke the mirror into pieces. Seeing this, the explorer walked over to the savage and asked why he had smashed the mirror. The native replied, He go kill me. I kill him first. All the trouble however, was the native was looking at himself.
Do you know that when it comes to getting along with others, most of our problems are caused because we are our own worst enemy. If we are to master the art of getting along, we must learn how to feel good about ourselves.