Beating Negativity to Death

I was really very negative during the first few years I was saved and people would tell me God won't help me, or God can't help me (that one is my favorite since God can do anything).  I've had people all along keep agreeing with those statements.  They'll quote "let not the double minded man think he should receive anything from the Lord", or "You must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him." and others.  And I always remind them that I was getting bonuses and raises, a better car, etc., all while negative.  I believe God knew why I was negative and He knew I didn't want to be that way and so He sent these blessings again and again to help change my mindset, and has changed it tremendously.  

As I spoke with our worship leader last night about his message where he spoke of negativity, he was in agreement with the sentiment that God wouldn't do anything for people who were negative and I stopped him and again brought up all that God has done for me. 

So on the way home, I began asking God about this.  Where does this idea come from.  I look at that verse in Hebrews 11:6 And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him.  And I wonder.  And I think, but I did believe He was a rewarder, I just didn't know if I was seeking Him enough, if my own heart was right and maybe that's why all the bad things kept happening to me year after year.  I woke this morning with something fresh in my mind which was an answer to my questioning of this.

Ruth 1:12-13 Return, my daughters! Go, for I am too old to have a husband. If I said I have hope, if I should even have a husband tonight and also bear sons, would you therefore wait until they were grown? Would you therefore refrain from marrying? No, my daughters; for it is harder for me than for you, for the hand of the Lord has gone forth against me.”

Ruth 1:20-22 She said to them, “Do not call me Naomi; call me Mara, for the Almighty has dealt very bitterly with me. I went out full, but the Lord has brought me back empty. Why do you call me Naomi, since the Lord has witnessed against me and the Almighty has afflicted me?”

Judges 6:13 “Pardon me, my lord,” Gideon replied, “but if the Lord is with us, why has all this happened to us? Where are all his wonders that our ancestors told us about when they said, ‘Did not the Lord bring us up out of Egypt?’ But now the Lord has abandoned us and given us into the hand of Midian.”

Judges 6:15 “Pardon me, my lord,” Gideon replied, “but how can I save Israel? My clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my family.”

1 Kings 19:4 ...He came to a broom bush, sat down under it and prayed that he might die. “I have had enough, Lord,” he said. “Take my life; I am no better than my ancestors.”

There are many more throughout scripture and God helped each and every one of them.  Because He knew their hearts.  He says to be transformed by the renewing of your mind.  And He knows that transformation isn't overnight and He knows what you're going through and exactly what you need.  Even if you doubt anything will change.  And when we tell people nothing will change unless they can change their own minds, we don't encourage them but ultimately discourage them.  And I'm reminded of Luke 17:1-2 ...“Things that cause people to stumble are bound to come, but woe to anyone through whom they come.  It would be better for them to be thrown into the sea with a millstone tied around their neck than to cause one of these little ones to stumble.

If discouraging words are a cause for someone to stumble, shouldn't we cease from offering up words of discouragement and instead encourage one another daily, as long as it is called "Today," so that none may be hardened by sin's deceitfulness?

I'm not saying it's ok to be negative nor that God wants you to remain there.  Jesus said "If you f ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed".  He says "be transformed by the renewal of your mind".  He says "And you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”  You cannot set yourself free from a negative mindset, only God can set you free, only His truth can set you free, only renewing your mind from what has been planted there for years and taken root, so that it bears a new crop, will set you free from that negative mindset.  And when any of us tell such a person that God can't or won't help them, we are a stumbling block to them.  We plant that negative mindset even deeper.  We've just sown God in a negative light and told someone that God is going to leave them in their mess until they can learn to change their own mindset.  That even though God knows what they need, that going against His own Word, He's not going to provide it because your mind hasn't yet been renewed, that until you get it completely renewed, you're on your own.  And that is simply not a Biblical truth.

I truly pray those who suffer from a negative mindset, and those who are consumed with the idea that it's best to push those kind of people away and not have any dealing with them or offer any encouragement can both receive something from this and that we can all become encouragements to one another and lift each other up so that all of our minds may be renewed.