Allowing negativity to “hang around” causes us to view life as “HALF-EMPTY” and assume God doesn’t care about us. That’s NONSENSE! At minimum, he wants us to live a “HALF-FULL” life.
There was a time early in my faith walk when I WISHED my glass was half empty!
It was bone dry. I was living with an EMPTY GLASS! Looking at those words now prompts a chuckle, but that belies the pain associated with the memory. How in the world can we be infused with God’s power and live with expectant belief that he is there with us every step of the way if negativity is coursing through our veins 24/7? We can’t–I tried and failed miserably.
Thank God he has taught me that negativity is a sclerotic and debilitating condition that consumes our hope in one gulp. It becomes a moat between us and Jesus. And it compounds like interest on money in the bank, gaining ever-more power to wreak havoc in our life.
The glass rarely goes from full to half-empty to empty in one jump. We usually get into trouble when our emotions and actions “wander” and push us away from God. If not interrupted, the negativity cycle will continue, and eventually we end up in a wreck.
We put ourselves at risk when we travel through life without paying attention to the warning signs announcing the entrance of negativity into our tent. If we ignore those warnings for a long period, we will travel with constant anxiety, hoping for the best and fearing the worst.
“We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.” 2 Corinthians 10:5
Take the negativity test right now. Think of 0 as the complete absence of negativity and 10 as its violent invasion and takeover of your life. Whatever your score, pray for God’s help in reducing your level of negativity.
God knows all about our negativity. Not just how strong it may be in our life at any given time, but where it comes from before landing. We need to ask him for strength to apply his truths right there at its source to vanquish the menace.
