Proverbs 15.15
“All the days of the afflicted are evil, but the cheerful of heart has a continual feast.”
Attitude is one of the few things in life over which you have total control. A good attitude costs you nothing. A bad attitude can cost you everything.
Unfortunately, there are negative, cynical people in the world. People who are often in a bad mood and easily irritated. Nothing seems to make them happy, and they are constantly complaining. The “affliction” that these negative people suffer from is a self-created bad attitude.
For folks in this cynical state, all days are evil. Not because their days are actually bad, but because they look at life through a negative lens. They find, focus, and fixate on things they don’t like.
For those with a good attitude and a cheerful heart, life is like “a continual feast.” Not because their days are always good, but because they look at life through a positive lens. It makes total sense if you think about.
If you are a Christian, your sins have been forgiven, and you are reconciled to God your Creator. And you see all of life through that lens.
In Christ, you are reconnected to the purpose for which God made you: be an agent of his kingdom. And you see all of life through that lens.
You are blessed in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavily places. And you see all of life through that lens.
You are indwelt by the Holy Spirit, who makes his peace and power available to you. And you see all of life through that lens.
At the end of your physical life on earth, the Lord will give you a new, perfect body, and you will spend eternity with Christ. And you see all of life through that lens.
Do I need to keep going?
What is truly heartbreaking and tragic is the Christian who sees life through a negative lens.
Yes, we experience challenges, difficulties, and adversity during our time on earth. That is to be expected in a fallen world. But the Lord has called us to trust him and rejoice even in the midst of the pain and brokenness of the world, precisely because the brokenness will eventually give way to his eternal blessings.
It is why James can write: “Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds.”
The apostle Paul also spoke to this in the book of Romans: “Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.” (Romans 5:2-5)
Through what lens do you see the world? What kind of attitude do you bring to life every day?
Trust God, be thankful, and rejoice always.
