Are You a Pessimist?

How to change your perspective from worrying and dark thoughts to looking on the truth of the positive approach.

Are you living on the Dark Side?

I’m sure you've heard that if you set a half-filled glass of water in front of an optimist, he will say the glass is half full; but if you set that same glass in front of a pessimist, he will say the glass is half empty. I have, by choice, changed from a die-hard pessimist to a die-hard optimist and you can too. You  do have the option to think positively or negatively.

 

The Bible tells us to capture our thoughts and bring them under subjection to Christ.

 

2 Corinthians 10:5 Casting down imaginations and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ.

 

With that in mind consider:

 

Philippians 4:8 Whatsoever things are true … honest … just … pure … lovely … of good report … think on these things.

 

So ... stop reading for a minute and take stock of your thought life with these Bible verses in mind. Are you surprised to discover you are living on the dark side? I used to live there. One day during Bible reading 2 Cor. 10:5 leaped off the page and I was forever changed. You see I was a pessimist and a worrier, big time. If I didn’t have something to worry over I would conjure up something. I wasn’t doing it on purpose. I didn’t even realize I was doing it!

 

Are you a pessimist? John Donne said, “No man is an island entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main.” How true and timeless are those words. We don’t live to ourselves alone but in one way or another what comes out of our mouths reflects our thoughts and affects those around us. Like water droplets, our words create a ripple effect. We can be complainers like the farmer who complained if it rained and complained if it didn’t rain. 

 

We can be skeptics like the ones crowded on the river bank the day Mr. Fulton first showed off his steamboat. The crowd yelled, “It’ll never start!”  But it did start and with a lot of clanking and groaning, it made its way down the river. For a full minute the skeptics were quiet then they began to yell, “It’ll never stop!”

 

I'm told that scientists are working on technology that will have the capability to recapture sound waves. What would happen if that technology existed today and our spoken words over the past month were captured and replayed? Would we be labeled an optimist or a pessimist? Would our replayed words be words that build up our family, our friends, our co-workers, ourselves?

 

Here's how I broke these false mind patterns in my life - whenever I would catch myself with a negative thought I would replace it with a verse from the Bible. Believe me it works! I turned away from my dark, worrisome thoughts and stepped into the truth of God's Word. The light of truth always dispels darkness so the more I bomb-barded my mind with positive reinforcement the less time I spent in the dark side.

 

Satan does his best to steal our peace. If he can get us to think dark thoughts he has a foot hold on us. But God gives us the tools to break the enemy's strong holds. We don't have to accept those negative thoughts. We can be overcomer's! The Bible is very clear:

 

Resist the devil and he will flee from you. James 4:7 

 

Be transformed by the renewing of your minds. Romans 12:2

 

What about your glass? Is it half-empty? If so, step into the light and transform not only your thoughts but your life. You can count on it!