Positive Thinking and The Gospel

Norman Vincent Peale wrote a helpful book many years ago called, The Power of Positive Thinking. In this book he encouraged us to overcome any obstacle by faith, positive thinking and prayer.

However, the modern culture has distorted the main thesis of the book and instead replaced it with an illusion not based on the whole truth and they have definitely left God out. Now people only want to talk about positive things and never address the negative factors of life. Now modern culture refuses to even think about what may be considered negative and, in the process, have refused to face reality. This kind of approach to life is harmful and destructive and is based on false pretenses. It is to live an illusion. If you live the illusion, you can somewhat be happy for a while, if you really believe it, but it will not last and there will be a reckoning. You will reap what you sow. (Galatians 6:7-9) It is healthy to live in reality and very unhealthy to live in an illusion.

Some of the churches have adopted this approach as well. They do not talk about the bad news or only slightly mention it, which the Bible tells us a lot about, which is that all people without a saving faith in Christ are destined to hell and the emptiness and the consequences of sin. Even Christians are not admonished to deal with the interior life and repent of sinful attitudes and words. For instance, envy is accepted by the world as normal, but we know from the Bible it is sin. A Christian should repent of envy and not glory in or laugh at it.

In business and in life we need to be positive to make advances in the world and to earn a living. However, we must not neglect the interior life. In the interior life we must deal with the sin and for instance with what has been called the seven deadly sins and others. The seven deadly sins are sloth, greed, wrath, envy and jealously, pride, gluttony and lust. Dealing with these foundational sins deals with the root causes of sin and thus the issues of the heart which are our desires. As the Bible says we are to “Keep your heart with all diligence, for out of it spring the issues of life. (Proverbs 4:23)

The Christian has a new heart given to us in Jesus Christ. (Ezekiel 36:26) However a Christians heart can be contaminated by sin in our members as the Bible states it. (Romans 7:23) In other places the Bible refers to sin in our members as the flesh. The flesh is our natural desires that can be ordered and sanctified or are fleshly and disordered. The flesh and the Spirit are in opposition to one another. When we live in the Spirit we live in the power of God and when we live in the flesh, we live in our human abilities only. Picture your heart and then picture sins that are like weeds contaminating it. It is not enough to recognize these weeds they need to be uprooted. They don’t belong there. They can only be pulled out by God and us co-operating with God in the Spirit.

The way that these weeds are uprooted is not by condemning ourselves and beating ourselves up but by coming to God and truly confessing our sin and asking God to cleanse us. To condemn ourselves only leads to doing worse. (2 Corinthians 7:10)

It is a work of God in our hearts it is not primarily by human will. As God’s word says, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9) It is in the context that Martin Luther said the Christian life should be one of repentance. Charles Spurgeon said, “Sincere repentance is continual. Believers repent until their dying day. This dropping well is not intermittent.”

God says in His word to His people, “My little children, these things I write to you, so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. And He Himself is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the whole world” (1 John 2:1-2) Jesus is the propitiation for those who repent of sin and receive Him as Savior and Lord. Propitiation means “a sacrifice that bears God’s wrath and turns it to favor.” Propitiation has to do with satisfying divine justice and is a true gift of God in Jesus that is available to the whole world, but it must be received to have eternal life. Jesus took the penalty of sin on myself for all those who receive Him as Savior and Lord. This gift does someone no good unless it is received. (John 1:12)

It is in God’s strength that sin is broken and renounced. If you want to keep the sin, it will remain. If you love sin more than God than you will remain in bondage and emptiness. Sin is basically an offense against God and His holiness (Psalm 51:4) and sin hinders our fellowship with God and with other people.

We have gone way to far in the power or the illusion of disordered positive thinking. We must deal with the bad news if we are every going to enter into the good news of the gospel and abundant and eternal life, and thus being rescued from foolishness and hell and overcome sin.

What will we do with God’s invitation to life in Jesus Christ? You will have no excuse when we stand before Him at the last day and give an account with what we have done with His gift in Jesus Christ.

If we truly follow God’s way, we will be successful where it really counts and it will lead to the most positive life possible this side of heaven and it will also be heaven for those in Christ when we die and this will be for all eternity. Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me” (John 14:6) Jesus is the way to true fulfilment in life.

Those who have a close relationship to Jesus keep their heart pure in the Lord and are not intimidated by the world. As Jesus said, “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God” (Matthew 5:8) A close Intimacy with God is the way to the fulness of life that God has planned for us. (Ephesians 3:19)

The fullness of God is the most positive that life can be. Nothing else can bring true fulfillment that we desire. God has given us this desire for fulness. It is a call to health, to true life. It is because God is most perfectly good and loves His children.

Jesus came preaching, “Repent for the Kingdom of heaven is at hand. Repent and believe in the gospel” (Mark 1:15) This was Jesus main message following up on the ministry of John the Baptist. Repentance is very important in coming to faith in Jesus Christ. Repentance is also very important for the Christian and is essential to true spiritual growth. This is how important repentance is for the people of God: “If My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land” (2 Chronicles 7:14).

Christians must not only repent of outward sin but interior sin, if God is going to heal us and heal our land.