This article is brought to you by guest writer, Courtney. She has her own blog, Courtney Faith Blog , and you really should go check her out! I made an article for her there, too, so check that out as well. Enjoy the article!
“Be positive!”
“Look on the bright side!”
“Every cloud has a silver lining.”
These are all sayings I’m sure we hear a lot, especially if someone is trying to cheer us up when we’re feeling blue.
But then, if you’re too cheerful, you might get the other side from some people: “Every rose has its thorns,” or, “This is too good to be true; what’s the catch?”
I’m usually the positive person. Since becoming an adult, I can be quite a realist at times, but I still lean more toward the optimist side of me. I once had someone who, slightly annoyed, asked me if I always smiled. To that I think, “I can always think of a reason to!”
Between the pessimist and the optimist there must be a good, happy medium, right? We could say the realist is right there in the middle, but I think it depends on the circumstance for that. Personally, I think that the recipe for the perfect balance is a dash of realism with a handful of optimism dumped in.
But why is that? Well, as you hopefully have noticed, we are living in an imperfect world full of immorality and many terribly scary things happening around us every single day.
So how is a Christian supposed to feel in spite of all of this? There’s lots of bad in this world that we could be depressed about, for sure, but hang on—there’s also a whole mess of goodness here too if we just tune in a bit and look for it!
But what about that balance? Do we just stay numb to it all? Do we focus just on the bad? Or do we focus on only the good? The Bible says God doesn’t like for His people to be “lukewarm” (Revelation 3:15-16), So I’d say the numb idea is out. And I don’t think He wants us to only see the bad, either—if we did that, we would be blind to His goodness. BUT if we focused solely, one hundred percent on the good, I think we would gradually lose sight of our purpose, on the whole reason for our following the Lord, and we wouldn’t be able to truly appreciate His gift of grace and redemption if we had nothing to compare His love to.
I really think there has to be a healthy balance to all of this.
Here are some passages in Scripture that I think explain the need for that balance.
Solomon, the wisest man on earth second only to Jesus, said in his book, Ecclesiastes, “I have seen that nothing is better than that man should be happy in his activities, for that is his lot...” (Ecc. 3:22) But then a few chapters later he adds, “It is better to go to a house of mourning than to go to a house of feasting, because that is the end of every man, and the living takes it to heart” (Ecc 7:2). And then, “Remember also your Creator in the days of your youth... The conclusion, when all is heard, is: fear God and keep His commandments, because this applies to every person” (Ecc. 12:1a,13). He puts life into a pretty straightforward perspective here: It’s really wonderful to enjoy life, and God truly wants us to find joy in living, but we ought to keep in mind the end of each of us and remember that we will someday meet our Creator. So live intentionally, but with great joy.
I love what Paul says in his first letter to the Thessalonians: “Rejoice always” (1 Thess. 5:16). Very simple and to the point. We should always be striving for joy. Not necessarily always being happy, but looking for the bright side. And, especially if you are a Christian, there IS always a bright side on the hard days. Then only five verses later he adds, “But examine everything carefully; hold fast to that which is good” (1 Thess. 5:21). We must always rejoice, and we are to look carefully at all things—but only clinging to the good stuff. So we can see and notice and feel all the bad around us, but we shouldn’t let it bring us down.
If we only looked at the good, we might never think to compare the Light to the darkness. I think God wants us to compare Him to those dark, stormy days or events, because a bad day or bad experience surely can’t compete with His ultimate goodness and unconditional love.
And when we face trials or when something knocks us down, through God’s grace we can fall to our knees and worship Him as Job did, and say, “when He has tried me, I shall come forth as gold” (Job 23:10); “Blessed be the name of the LORD!”
Hard times can—and should!—refine us and refocus our trust, not in ourselves, but in God (1 Cor. 1:9).
Our faith, when tested, ought to result in worship: “so that the proof of your faith, being more precious than gold which is perishable, even though tested by fire, may be found to result in praise and glory and honor...” (1 Pet. 7-9)
So, no. We shouldn’t ignore the negativity all around us. But we shouldn’t let it grab our focus, either. Look to God and all His goodness that surrounds us, and enjoy life with that positive attitude!
“Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Do not let your heart be troubled, nor let it be fearful” (John 14:27).