something more than a positive mental attitude…

some of you are at a dead-end right now.  there are certain dead-end words in life.  cancer.  divorce.  bankruptsy.  infertility.  unemployment.  death of loved-ones. 

how do you know when you’re at a dead-end?  things get out of your control and you can’t do anything about it.  you’re at a dead-end. 

well romans 4.17-20 tells about a dead-end situation in the life of abraham of the old testament and in his story we can get some insight on what i can do in my dead-end situation.

for one i remember what GOD can do.

the situation may be out of your control but it’s not out of GOD’s control.  when you face a dead-end you don’t focus on what you can’t do, you focus on what GOD can do.  verse 17 (ncv), abraham believed in GOD who gives life to the dead and who creates something out of nothing. 

it says that GOD can give life to something that’s dead.  now if HE can give life to a dead human being HE can give life to a dead career.  HE can bring life to that dead marriage.  HE can bring life to that dead dream.  HE can bring life to that financial dead-end.  HE can create something out of nothing.  GOD doesn’t need anything to work with. 

verse 17 in the living bible, abraham believed in GOD who gives life to the dead and who creates something out of nothing. 

it wasn’t just positive thinking that abraham believed in.  i recommend positive thinking because, what’s the alternative?  negative thinking and it doesn’t work.  but positive thinking is not faith.  they are two very different things.  positive thinking works fine in situations you have control over.  if you just need an attitude change i recommend positive thinking. 

now CHRISTians ought to be the most positive people in the world.  positive thinking works fine in situations you can control.  but in situations that are out of your control positive thinking is worthless.  it’s just wishful thinking.  it’s being positive but it doesn’t change the situation.  it has no power on things you can’t control.

when you face things that are out of your control you need something more than a positive mental attitude.  you need faith in GOD because HE can control it when you can’t.  most of life is beyond your control.  so you need faith far more than you need positive thinking. 

just a thought from the front porch…