I can remember years ago attending an Easter brunch and overhearing a father calling his 6 year old son stupid, “Hey stupid, stop doing that!” and then smacking him on the head and continuing “Come here stupid.” Part of what made that so offensive to witness was because it was a father talking to a small child, his son. Will that feed that child’s thoughts? You bet it will.
I recently went to Ulta for shampoo and while waiting in line saw the words splashed across a display “Better than sex!” The advertising was for mascara incongruously named “Better than Sex.” Where does the mind go when we read that? And those are just words. We are bombarded daily with images and scenes that feed our pride, our lusts, our need to feel attractive, desired, even loved. Do these things feed our thoughts? Yup.
Some might counter by saying they only do “positive vibes and positive thinking.” There is a lot to this secular notion of creating your own happiness with “positive vibes and positive thinking.” I mean what could be bad about that? Positive vibes and positive thinking sounds good, it feels good, and everyone is smiling. What could be wrong taking control of your life with positivity?
At the risk of sounding like a complete killjoy, I am going the say one of the biggest lies I have seen propagated in secular culture today is the seemingly benign notion of “positive vibes” and “positive thinking” being the way of creating and attaining contentment, fulfilment, and happiness. This stuff is akin to junk food, taste good eating it but full of empty calories that contributes to an unhealthy body. “Positive vibes” and “positive thinking” are the feel good mental morsels with a limited lifespan and limited impact. What happens when something big and awful happens, suddenly the power of “positive vibes” and “positive thinking” evaporates. Since you were the creator of positivity and now something horrible has happened, there goes your source of positivity? This notion is rooted in self-centeredness.
The answer is to be God-centered. Placing God at the center of your life is what allows you to change your thoughts.
“Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.” Roman 2:12
“Instead, let the Spirit renew your thoughts and attitudes.” Ephesians 4:23
Note that when God transforms a person, it is done by changing their thinking. And how would the Spirit renew our thoughts and attitudes? We can control and purposefully feed our thoughts with things that true, honorable, and right, and pure, lovely, admirable, and worthy of praise (Philipians 4:8). We can read the bible not just on Sunday, but every day and the Spirit can reveal an understanding of scripture we couldn’t attain on our own. The more intentionally we make God the center of our lives, the more we nourish our thoughts with things that nourish our spirit, the more we transform and avail ourselves to God accomplishing His purposes through each of us.
Being God-centered means that God is the source of our positive thinking and positive vibes. When horrible things happen, our source of all things good remains intact and is still there to provide the light at the end of the tunnel. Faith in God provides us the wisdom, the wherewithal to navigate the situation, and the hope that something good can actually come of something terrible.
Through the eyes of the old Ivonne looking in from the outside, I would perceive the notion of living a God-centered life as something fanatical and relevant only to “Jesus freaks” and the hyper religious types. But now as I look out from the inside of faith and accepting Jesus Christ as my Savior, striving to live a God-centered life is the only way to truly live. I realize that I perceived Christ followers as fanatical only because I didn’t understand who Jesus was. But now that I do, I can’t and, respectfully, won’t shut up about Him either 🙂
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*Monarch Butterfly Chrysalis Photo Credit: Umbris