There is a growing movement of people in Christianity these days who are well versed in the popular psychology enunciated by Norman Vincent Peale in his book "The Power of Positive Thinking". Mr. Peale, a professing Christian himself and a minister, advocates channeling our thoughts away from negative things like hurt, loneliness, anger, depression, and fear. His book, when released in 1952, caught on like wildfire. And it's very understandable why this happened. After all, who doesn't want to start living a hopeful, upbeat, happy, brave life? As a matter of fact, this idea seems to be backed up by certain portions of Scripture. For instance, Paul tells us "Whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable-- if anything is excellent or praiseworthy, think on these things." And those of us who know God know that He doesn't want his children walking under condemnation, fear, loneliness, and despair. But is Mr. Peale's methodology simply straight, truthful Christianity or does it deviate from the gospel of God's grace? Does being a Christian really just mean thinking happy thoughts and learning to turn off anything that speaks negatively? Joel Osteen and other contemporary pastors certainly seem to think so! And the man seems to be such a happy, upbeat kind of guy that we think that he must be on to something.
My main problem with this "Gospel of Positive Thinking" is that when it is backed by God's Word, the Bible, large portions of scripture must be ignored. When Paul tells us that we should think about things that are true, noble, right, etc. he's being inspired by the Holy Spirit. But that same Holy Spirit inspired Solomon to write "It is better to go to a house of mourning than to go to a house of feasting, for death is the destiny of everyone; the living should take this to heart." and, two verses later, "The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning, but the heart of fools is in the house of pleasure." And Jesus himself said that "Blessed are those who mourn..." in Matthew 5:4. These Scriptures are a bit depressing! If I was hanging out with Solomon, I might have thought "Geez! This guy is a downer!" but what he says is truth. I don't think Mr. Osteen or other pastoral advocates of Peale's philosophy would want to preach a sermon on these texts! So they simply ignore them.
Another problem I have with this false gospel is that it is incredibly calloused and insensitive to people who are going through legitimate, extremely painful sufferings in their life! There is a man in my church who was diagnosed with Lou Gehrig's Disease (ALS) a couple of years ago. This disease is horrible! Over the past couple of years, my friend has lost control of his muscles. The only things he can do now are smile, cry, and use his eyes to type very brief messages with great difficulty on his computer. Can you imagine how much pain it would cause him and his family to show up at their house on a bad day and say "Come on guys! Cheer up! This situation isn't so bad! Just forget about the disease and think about what a nice day it is outside and how great it is just to be alive! Stop being gloomy!"
The central problem where this entire philosophy breaks down is that people focusing on thinking positively have to ignore so much of reality! There is a veritable cornucopia of really horrible, bad, nasty things that these people have to dodge thinking about. School shootings, cancer, AIDS, poverty, hate crimes, racism, tumors, bullying, mental disease, physical disease, emotional bondage, etc. The fact of the matter is that we live in a world where these things exist and they suck! You'll never hear a sermon on "The Positive Side of Sexual Assault". To maintain a positive mindset in this philosophy, you must ignore or downplay a wide range of really bad, really evil, really painful things.
So am I saying, then, that Christians should be gloomy, depressed, discouraged, overwhelmed, fearful people? No! As a matter of fact, there are promises in scripture that God's people will be full of joy and peace. When Paul lists the fruit of the Spirit in Galatians 5:22, he says, "The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control." How does the Christian come into this loving, joyful, peaceful life? By ignoring the bad stuff and focusing only on the good stuff? No. I say again, no. The Christian is completely aware that there are really bad things in this world. Really hard, depressing, discouraging, frustrating things. But these people have seen the grace of God, the kindness he shows us, and the power he has in this world. They have seen the bad things face off against the good things and they know the good, the beautiful, the lovely will ultimately win. They sometimes lose sight of the goodness of God and his power because the proximity of the really bad things seems so much closer than the good but they always come back to knowing that God has power over the evil. They know that even when the bad things seem to have the upper hand and it looks like they're going to overpower God's grace and sovereignty, it is not the end of the story.
When Jesus' close friend Lazarus became sick, Jesus postponed visiting him until after he was dead. Why? Because he was trying to stop focusing on bad things like sickness and death? No. Because he wanted his disciples to see that the ultimate bad thing (death) didn't even stand in the way of the grace and power of God. When he finally showed up, did Jesus look at Mary and Martha and say "Come on, guys! Cheer up! It's okay. Eventually, you'll get over your brother's death and you'll be able to enjoy life again. Focus on that hope."? No. In the shortest verse in Scripture, it records "Jesus wept." He did not stand stiffly optimistic or try to draw their attention to something good they had going on. He cried with them. And I know he cries with us still. But the gospel of God's grace is that HE WILL WIN! Maybe not today. Maybe not tomorrow. Maybe not for a hundred thousand more years of living in this wretched, stinking, hell hole we call Earth. But in the end THERE IS NOT A CHANCE OF SEEING DEFEAT! We may live miserable, discouraged, boring, depressing lives every day that we are alive and we may lose sight of His hope on a daily basis and go around living under condemnation and fear and despair for long periods of time but he WILL NOT LET GO OF US! That is the gospel of God's grace. Breathe it in again.
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