Be Aware of the Snowball Effect
Of Your Thinking
I remember in January, Pastor Ian Fisher spoke on how "you can gain moment in your life speck by speck... a repetitive whisper becomes an enormous shout." While this is true of power, and leadership, it is equally effective in the realm of negative thoughts.
Summary:
Nip negative thinking in the bud; always be thankful
In his book, Carlson gives an illustration of waking up in the night to remember a phone call you have to make, and consequently losing sleep steeping over the items in your day to come. We play out situations in our head, we have assumptions about how are day will go. Proverbs 23:7 says "for as he thinks within himself, so he is." If we think we are overworked, stressed, and busy that is exactly what we will be. We will look for it in our lives, and we will become it. It is a matter of perspective. As we seek out the problems in our lives, we will feed them, and they will grow.
Instead of focusing on the negative and letting unpleasant thought patterns spiral out of control, we need to focus on two things:
1.) Investing in People
In context, Proverbs 23:6-7 reads:
6 Do not eat the bread of a selfish man, or desire his delicacies; 7 For as he thinks within himself, so he is. He says to you, "Eat and drink!" But his heart is not with you.
I had a bit of a revelation with this scripture. I had a hard time seeing the reality of it in present day context. Sometimes (and I'll take a stab that I am not the only one that has done this) I get into feeling that the people in Bible-times were different than we are now. They had a different culture, so they must have had a different psyche. I need to jolt myself into realizing this is not the case. Little boys still picked on the little girls. They hurt, and had their insecurities which are very much similar to our own. Man has always bled the same color.
I have heard it said that the insecure are those who think too highly of their problems. They become obsessed with promoting their own person, whereby disproving their insecurities to none other than themselves and any peering eye that would care to take notice of their failings. They become wrapped up in the spiral of cynical thinking. When you are worried only about protecting yourself, you cannot fully invest in the people around you.
In this scripture, I believe the subject is such as one of these insecure people who has put on a hospitable front just to prove that he is not alone. His investment in others is not designed with their benefit in mind. In verse 8, it says "your compliments will be wasted." The irony is that the insecure people are very often the lasts ones to believe the good things about themselves that they are so desperate to prove.
It's not about us. It's never about us. I can tell you from experience, when you lay yourself down and live for others - life is so much more satisfying. It is such a freedom to live in a place where your insecurities don't matter, and you can just open up your heart to let God shine through you. People are pretty cool. Funny thing is, they are usually just as intimidated by people as you. I didn't believe at all while I was in high school. Now that I have graduated (and have a good deal more Jesus to see the world through), I have found it difficult to find anybody that doesn't display some habit of timidity.
I'm scared, they're scared - so why not? Why not just show them that they are loved? Neither of you have anything to lose. (You really don't.) Take the focus off of yourself, put it on those around you.
2.) Being Thankful
Honestly, I am not sure if "thank you" is going to be the first thing on my mind when I am jolted out of bed by a phone call I need to remember to make. It probably would be, "is it too late/early to call now? would it matter what time zone I was in?" 1 Thessalonians 5:18 says "give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you." This means in the hard times, too. Even when you don't feel like being thankful.
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