Negativity is a thief. It can be subtle, masking itself under various issues and feelings, which makes it hard to detect. Negativity affects our thinking, our emotions, our moods, attitudes, and ultimately our actions. Though we may not always realize it, negativity is at the root of many of our issues. We must pray for God to show us how we’re affected by it and depend on Him to fight off negativity.
Not only does negativity affect what we’re thinking about, but it also affects how we think. Do you realize that you have thought patterns, which are essentially routes that your brain takes when thinking? Which highway do your thoughts live on? The sunny, positive freeway; or the gloomy, dirt road? This analogy should help us to visualize the state of our minds.
Negativity often starts in the mind.
As I write this, my mind goes to John 10:10:
“The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.”
Satan often steals from us by causing us to think negatively.
God can bless us with something and Satan will attack how we even view the blessing. He will cause us to question, doubt, and look upon our blessing as though it has no value. Negativity. This negative thinking will in turn affect how we feel about it, how we care for it, and how we treat it. You see it? He has stolen from us. He didn’t even physically remove our blessing from us, he just stole the value from it [in our minds], by influencing how we think about it.
Satan is deceptive, tricky, and subtle.
This is why it is imperative for us to guard our minds and our way of thinking. We cannot tolerate negativity at all, as it will only lead to more negativity. Negativity only takes from us. It will never add anything. This should help us to see it for what it really is. We should be able to identify the root of the negativity that is affecting and hindering so many lives. As we grow in our understanding, by God’s grace, we are enabled to fight off negativity.
No doubt, it won’t be easy, but what’s the alternative? Once God allows us to see how the root of negativity affects so many areas of our lives, we will be motivated to stay in the fight. Day by day, God will allow us to see negativity at work in our lives and in the lives of others around us. He will show us how our words are often rooted in negativity and allow us to see the connection between those words and our thoughts. It’s all connected.
As we are committed to following Christ, we will see how negativity limits us in walking like Christ.
Though we are often overwhelmed with the various things requiring work from us, we must keep in mind that our greatest goal of all is to walk like Christ. When God shows us that we are not, this must be prioritized and pushed to the forefront, because if we are not walking like Christ, do the other things even matter? No they don’t.
Above all that we do, our #1 goal must always be to glorify God. We must keep our focus on Him and aim to glorify Him with our lives. It doesn’t matter how we appear to others, God sees our heart [I Samuel 16:7], and as we prioritize Him, He shows us our heart too.
Our heart is what it’s all about. We must be intentional to tend to the issues of our heart as all of our issues in life flow from the heart [Proverbs 4:23]. This is where the hard work is at- keeping our hearts clean. It’s a fight, but it is definitely worth it. We cannot submit to the evilness that constantly lurks in our heart. If we do, it will overcome us, yet through Christ we have the ability to overcome evil with good and fight off negativity.
