In today’s world, it’s so easy to be negative. I mean, there is quite literally sickness, war, and depression everywhere you look. And don't even get me started on the news... :) I know so many people (Christians included, somehow) who are convinced that the world is ‘going to hell in a handbasket,’ as they say, and sometimes it can be difficult to see the good.
If I’m being honest, this is very true in my line of work as well. Working with troubled teens is a blessing, but it's kind of a rollercoaster. I saw dozens of teens recommit themselves to Jesus last week, but within days another teen told me that he is leaving for juvi, so he wouldn't be able to make it to church next week. Another one of my kids shows up high to school again. I see a lot of my teens are growing with God, but many are struggling with alcoholic and abusive parents. It’s pretty easy, in my line of work, to be negative about the present and the future. And most teachers and youth workers often are.
But I’m determined not to be.
Partly because negativity really takes a toll on a person, and I just don't have time for that. Proverbs 17:22 says that “a cheerful heart is good medicine, but a broken spirit saps a person’s strength.” Nothing is truer!
But I'm also determined to stay optimistic because I really am full of faith and hope for the next generation because of what God says. I know that God’s church will endure (no thanks to me, but to Him) and I know that His promises can be trusted. I've seen too much goodness to be pessimistic.
One of my favorite verses in the Bible is this one from Proverbs 11:27, and I remind myself of it often: “Whoever diligently seeks good finds favor, but evil comes to the one who searches for it.” This verse tells me that whatever you’re looking for in life, you’re probably going to find. If you’re looking for good in the world, you’re probably going to see it. If you’re looking for the awful in the world, you’re probably going to see that. This is otherwise known in the psychological world as 'confirmation bias.'
I like to think about this concept by considering two well-known birds: a buzzard and a hummingbird. A buzzard, as we all know, gets up and finds the same thing every day: gross, nasty, dead stuff. Yum! A hummingbird, on the other hand, gets up every day and it finds something sweet. Every single day, they find the same thing.
You get what you’re looking for.
I finally memorized Psalm 23 last year (patting myself on the back as you read - don't most Sunday school kids do this by like age 10? I digress). Verse 5 of that poem states, “you anoint my head with oil and my cup overflows.” I’m realizing now that there are really two ways you could read that verse: the optimist would understand “my cup overflows, I have so much, God is really blessing me beyond what I ever thought I needed!” But the pessimist reads that verse and says, “UGH, this cup is overflowing and making a huge mess everywhere!” Honestly, I've been that person more than once.
The question is, which are you? I know that I can be optimistic about the future because I know the end of the story: Jesus wins, He is on His throne, and He is in the process of restoring and redeeming the world. If you find yourself struggling to stay positive today, take some time to thank God for all He has given you and read Romans 8. It's full of good news for those who love God. I’m not optimistic about life because of how I feel, I’m optimistic because of what God says. I pray that we can hand this optimism down to the next generation as well.
Comentários