Before I get to the shocking pay-off to that headline, it’s important to take a peek at the back story.
All of us know about the devastating impact caused by the negative voices knocking around in our head, right?
Of course. That’s why we must be diligent about spending time in God’s Word and prayer to keep that possibility from turning into pain. But underneath that threat lurks another scary saboteur—BAD CHOICES.
Here’s the connection…
When negative voices hold us hostage, our spiritual confidence loses traction one click at a time. Eventually we lose enough of God’s perspective that it becomes increasingly difficult to make choices and decisions that comport with our faith in Christ. That’s the beginning of our inexorable drift toward isolation from God.
It’s like a slow-moving glacier that eventually calves from its once-secure tether and pierces the foamy surface of an unsuspecting sea below. The early cracks seem insignificant if they are noticeable at all. But over time they combine to create an insidious and mighty force that inevitably results in some kind of problem.
LOOK OUT!
The only way to avoid that ending is to be watching for signs of negativity before it produces trouble. Here’s a real-life example because it happened to me as a CEO working in the marketplace.
I was working on a mapping project that would have a m
ulti-million impact on the industry and change its direction permanently. Meeting privately with a board member to review the final report, I came to the only conclusion possible and expressed it to my colleague.
While preparing to leave, I noticed that he was ashen and visibly upset after realizing that the result would have an expensive and devastating impact on him personally. Trying to change the outcome in his favor, he pointed to one of the data clusters and said to me: “Let’s move this group over to here. C’mon, nobody will ever know.” And he was right about that fact. Indeed, nobody would ever know.
In the uncomfortable and lingering silence produced by my stunned response, he repeated his chilling line… “C’mon, Mark, nobody will ever know.”
Staring deeply and securely into his nervous eyes, I boldly asserted: “I would know. And so would God.” Then I walked out of the room.
HOW ABOUT YOU?
Are you working hard to beat back negativity when
it rears its ugly head?
“Therefore each of you must put off falsehood and speak truthfully to your neighbor, for we are all members of one body.” Ephesians 4:25
