Negative, negative, negative.
I held my computer in my lap as I read the words. It was another in a series of negative posts about faith — from those who follow Jesus. Some honest posts that said how discouraged they were with faith and people. Some flippant. Some that seem to be written just to provoke controversy or to gain a few more likes.
Can I be vulnerable with you here? It’s discouraging to read the negative about this beautiful gift of faith. We need freedom to share what’s on our heart or to work through the hard places with each other, but in this share-everything-about-anything culture, I think we’ve forgotten that people who don’t know Jesus are listening.
I also wonder when we stopped seeing the good.
It’s there, if we’ll look for it.
In the book Awakening, Matt Brown says,
We lose influence when we spend all of our time preaching against the bad in culture. We gain influence when we talk about the good we have in Christ.
Brown isn’t talking about an unbelieving culture in this statement, but our faith culture.
It’s easy to point out how people tangle faith with things that don’t resemble Christ, or get tangled ourselves in conversations that spiral downward as we lose focus of why we ran into the arms of Christ in the first place.
Again, I don’t ever want to stifle those important conversations, but what about the good?
It’s there, right in front of us.
It’s taking place in that church down the street where people are being nurtured and discipled. It’s happening in that nonprofit where a family has sacrificed their financial stability to give others a chance. It’s across the world, and across the street, and it’s just as easy to find as the negative.
What if we restarted the conversation?
We have a Heavenly Father willing to work through the hard places with us. They matter to him because we matter to him. The Holy Spirit lives in us, so we have access to wisdom and insight.
The day that I read one more negative, I almost got sucked in. It was discouraging. I needed to give myself permission to look for the good. To take the myopic glasses off and see beyond the negative.
I thought of my friend, Sharon, who said she’d pray for me and my family, and she followed through. She’s a prayer warrior and literally called out our name every single day.
I thought about the moment when I got the call that I had a small melanoma on my shoulder (cancer diagnosis #3 in my family in as many months) and another friend pulled out anointing oil and prayed for me on the spot. (I love it that I have a friend that packs “heat” in her purse.)
[bctt tweet=”Faith is good because God is good. We’ll work through the harder places together. #faithisgood #livingfreetogether https://wp.me/p4jbdw-4dp” username=”suzanneeller”]
I thought about laughter around the table at Bible study as we ate cheeseburgers and baked beans and dug into the Word together.
Looking for the good allowed me to put down the distractions (yep, those conversations on social media that were twisting my insides) and feel His presence close.
So, so good.
In this Summer of Permission, I long for us to give ourselves permission to look for the good in our faith. And then to talk about it so the world can hear, because if we — those who claim to be transformed by his love — aren’t talking about it, then why in the world would they want anything to do with it. Let’s talk about a Savior who rescued us and waits to love any who comes to him. Let’s seek wisdom, counsel, and truth together — because it’s available to us. Let’s point out the believers making a difference — some who are giving their lives for their faith, and others who have devoted their life to change and transformation.
Let’s tell our stories. How once we were lost, and then we were found.
When we do this, the conversation is more balanced. It leaves room for the conversations we need to have as we work through the negative, but it never overshadows the goodness of God.
Awaken our heart, Father, to the broader picture. To you. To your goodness. To the good that people are doing all over the world (maybe right in front of us), unsung, unnoticed, and their stories a little bit lost in the negative. Our faith in you is life changing and worth talking about. Help us to work through the negative, with your help because that’s life and people, but when we see negative may we become the good in your name.
Suzie
Will you join in a challenge?
I felt challenged to look for the good in my faith this week, and it’s something I’ll continue. Will you join me in that challenge?
What if we looked for the good for the rest of the week.
Share the good that someone is doing or has done for you in the name of Christ. Tell your story. Highlight someone who is making a difference. Tell a friend. Post it on FB or Instagram or Twitter. Hashtag it #faithisgood. We’ll look for those hashtags and share the good news together. Let’s do this, okay? ~ Suzie
[inlinkz_linkup id=730457 mode=1]
Looking for the good changes our perspective and our emotional approach to life. Love ❤️ this.
Me too, Michelle. ❤️
Suzie~my soal soaked up the truths our Savior placed on your heart to share. The chatter of my own negative thoughts about my ministry started pouring in early this morning. God’s words stopped the flood of negativity and started pouring in refreshment of reminding. “Be Still And Know.” Thank you. ❤️
Michele, The words and writings you shared with me yesterday were such a blessing to me. It was like you were in my mind and heart and knew exactly what I needed to know with the issue I shared with you. Thank you for coming along side me and sharing what God has spoken to your heart. Your ministry is much needed and you are a blessed, God glorifying, Jesus girl!!
I am struggling in my faith. Because I don’t feel Gods presence. I don’t feel his presence because doubt and fear won’t allow God to manifest within my heart. I’m faced with some family issues and I don’t want to use God for what he can do for me in my life. Instead I am going to learn to trust him wholeheartedly with out doubting all that he has already done. I pray for everyone who is faced with a issue that is testing your faith. That God dwells in you as you dwell with him.
Father, we lift Tiffany in your hands of love. She is heavy-hearted. I ask you pour over Tiffany your presence and reassurance that she is not alone in the walk of searching for you in life-troubles. You see her deeply and long for her reach. I pray for this precious daughter and for her family. Help them, Lord. In Jesus Name, Amen.
Tiffany, I admire your transparency. These two words come to mind as I pray for you: “Look up.”
Lord, I pray that you would cover Tiffany in your sweet love today. Allow her to feel your embrace. Remind her that she is loved, accepted, and that you are with her. Open her heart to see you, to feel you, and to know you more. Reassure her that whatever issues plague her family, Lord you have them in your hands. In Jesus name, Amen.
That was awesome!! I was just praying to God about getting rid of the negative and dullness in my own life right before I read this! I was reading the Psalms and how people are rejoicing and having gladness about what the Lord has done. They were understanding God is good! I was finding when I’m not understanding God and His character . . I fall into saying things I really wish I didn’t say, but when I begin to have understanding the more positive my words are that come out. This is definitely something I’ve been wanting to work through with the Lord, because even if I don’t say things out loud there are things going on inside of my heart that are bothered by the ideas of negativity. Thanks for this!!
I love your words, Alexis… so true. We’re all a work in progress, aren’t we?!
Lord, I believe! Help my unbelief as my heart breaks for my son who struggles socially to find his security in You! His maker the one who will never leave him or forsake him. The world tells him that he is weird, retarded, wears the wrong shoes, has a big nose or for crying out loud too much hair on his legs but you say he is your masterpiece and that you formed him in my womb and You have a good plan for his life, that your purposes will prevail. So Lord help my son know how much you love Him today as he goes for his second day of school. Give Him Your confidence Lord not self confidence. Lead His thoughts to focus on the ones that celebrate him not the ones mocking him. Help me to trust that You love Him more than I do and you understand more than anyone what He’s going through and will give Him all He needs for this trial to overcome.
Amen! Lifting your son up in prayer this morning that God’s angels will protect him from the negatives being said and he will rejoice in knowing he is God’s and perfect the way God creat d him. Praying for you too, Lee, as it is so hard to see our children struggle with the sheer meaness of this workd we live in. May God bless you and give you hope today!
Thank you so much Nancy!
Amen! Standing and believing with you today, Lee!
Thank you so much Crystal!
Wonderful and timely post, Suzie. I accept the challenge: let’s talk about all the good that our faith does in our lives.
YES! Let’s do it!
How many times has God stepped in and everything came to the good? So many I could not count in my 64 years. Have I always been this easy going about this? No way. I am learning (and this may sound crazy) but God makes me chuckle as I look back and see how when he says I got this Jody he just does. How he has his hand in everything continuously because his ways are higher than my ways. Thank you Lord for turning positive out of negative and I pray by sharing the good you have done for me with others they will have hope in their lives by praying through all things knowing you will come through for them also.
I love your honesty, Jody! We’re all a work in progress!
“It’s easy to point out how people tangle faith with things that don’t resemble Christ, or get tangled ourselves in conversations that spiral downward as we lose focus of why we ran into the arms of Christ in the first place.”
Yes this is so true. Thank you for this Suzie. I had to change my mindset a while back too and began looking for the good. I wrote it everywhere, to remind myself it was okay to look for it — not being naive, how the enemy was wanting me to feel.
Appreciate this so much. God bless. 🙂
We really do have to create constant reminders sometimes, don’t we?!
Amen, Susie! Faith is good because God is good. Sometimes a bad attitude shows me I’ve been trusting in the wrong things. God’s remnant probably don’t make the world’s news.
So true, Debbie!
Suzie, this has been on my heart so much lately. The other day I read an article by someone sharing a personal story about something I could totally relate to. I read the article and felt uplifted and encouraged by this brave woman’s story. I felt thankful that I could look to her situation and see hope for my own. But then, I read the comments that followed. I noticed my feelings of gratitude and hope quickly turn to frustration over the conflict that arose as people shared their views and engaged in abrupt conversation. My heart hurt. I just wanted to tell the author how much her article meant to me. I love your thoughts here, and the hashtag:)
It’s nearly an epidemic, isn’t it? So sad.
As a typical glass-half-empty thinker, I need the encouragement from glass-half-full thinkers to lift me up. This post is serving as a wonderful reminder and encouragement for me. Thank you Suzie for your gentle yet powerful words!
I love your honesty, Sarah! It takes work to be a glass-half-full thinker, doesn’t it?! Especially in our world today.
YES! “It is there if we will look for it.” What a discipline to ask God to open our eyes to all He’s doing. Doesn’t Piper saying God is always doing a thousand things (an infinite number of things, really) and we’re only aware of 2? or 3? Thank you for the reminder to BEG God to see all that we’re allowed to see of Him. xoxo
YES!
Oh Suzie, I love this!
I struggle with all of the negativity that’s in my face all the time anymore. It’s a challenge to overlook them and see the good. I have a sign in my living area that says, “Believe there is good in the world,” and these words are highlighted in a different color: Be The Good. Oftentimes, I read it as: SEE The Good, because quite simply, sometimes it’s hard to do so.
Thank you for this beautiful reminder today. Love love LOVE this post! #faithisgood ….. YES IT IS!
So good, Suzie! Thanks for putting words to my thoughts! I too have been discouraged by too much negativity in the world and in faith culture. Maybe this can be the beginning of a movement to circle back to the most beautiful gifts from our faith… love and positivity. Christ covers our sins and negativity with a new life in his grace and glory. Let’s share that!
#faithisgood – I was a little sad to read your post. I am in the middle of the “Armor of God” by Priscilla Shirer, and we just got to the shield of faith. It made my heart soar with remembering how we had stepped out in faith. Tears ran down my face recalling how faithful God has been through some tremendous challenges. I remember linking arms with other believers in prayer as we prepared to step out in faith and go against what professionals had said was impossible. I can tell you five years later what was deemed impossible was possible with GOD. It didn’t make sense, but GOd made sense of it.
Thank you, susie – you are so right. it’s almost a competition it seems to blog about the struggles of the faith. Not to dismiss those struggles, but to be so layered in them that we no longer see the light and the lightness of our faith. Whatever happened to His yoke is easy and His burden is light? I appreciate your heart and words and will hashtag and share. #faithisgood it’s called good news for a reason.
Suzie! I love this idea! If our community of faith would come together and shine a light on God”s faithfulness, we could bring about a change in our world!
Suzie, this is so well spoken and so encouraging! Thank you for helping us remember and focus on how good God is!