I found myself encouraging someone the other day. I like to do that. I like to help others who seem a bit down- to lift their spirit if I can. It’s not that I don’t realize life can be hard, or cruel, or painful in so many ways, but I don’t like to “live there,” and I like to try to help others get out of that place.
What happens when someone DOES go there, and tells you some sad tale of life and experience? We do much more than just say “I’m sorry.” We try to comfort. We try to encourage. We try to help in some way. Don’t we? Of course we do. We’ve been there and we know what it feels like and we want to help. This is our “good” side at work.
What happens, though, when someone DOESN’T go negative, but goes positive? What happens when they smile and their soul shines, and they tell you some fantastic tale of GOOD? Yes! The rising water lifts ALL boats, and we do that for one another every time we share the joys of life, no matter how small.
Resist the urge here to dismiss this as simply looking at the cup as half full, because in that worn out cliché it is also half empty, right? This is much more than elementary psychology. This is about how you look at life. This is about your personal world-view. This is about your foundation for facing each and every day. A healthy soul seems to bring possibilities to reality; to see good and beauty; to experience wonder and joy and amazement! A healthy soul is able to overcome, endure, be humble, and wait for God to show up. A healthy soul is a soul with a living faith, a growing faith, right in the middle of a tried faith, an attacked faith, and especially a faith challenged with so much ‘world’ that it dims the Kingdom of God which, we believe, is right in our midst!
You don’t need a Thesaurus to give you all the synonyms for “bad, sad, hard, failed, hurt, etc.” We’re experts in this area and can spiral downward quickly. Negative upon negative, almost self-generating, or should I say degenerating? So here is an exercise to add to your daily fitness pursuit: start looking up positive words. Study them. Know what they mean. Know what they say is happening. Let them confront you, challenge you, and begin to lift you. Let the knowledge of GOOD begin to triumph, even in regular life. Let them move you to prayer, asking God to transform your own negatives into something good and positive.
It’s not “wishful thinking” when you ask God! It’s not just the “think system” from The Music Man when you seek the Lord God Almighty to CHANGE you! It’s not “mind over matter” when you go to the One Who created both, loves both, and Who wants you to experience both to the full!
The Bible is the Word of God and can be more than just read. It can be trusted. It can be a handbook for life and living. It can feed you and it can heal you and it can lift the veil and reveal the Kingdom to you. Let the Glorious Word of God take you into Heavenly places in your soul, as your spirit joins His Spirit in the journey we are all on. Rebuke the negative and grasp the positive, as you allow Jesus to become more than some historical figure subject to debate. End the debate. Accept what He has for you. Life. Good. Beauty. Promise. Trust. Help. Strength. Victory!
That’s a GOOD post, Pastor! It encouraged me while I’m in the thick of shepherding my grandchildren through the thick of the delusions Satan is filling their minds with!