Do you ever get tired of negativity? I do.  Do think others may be tired of your negativity?  The Bible says  the tongue has the power of life and death.  Which are you speaking?  So many of us speak words of death: complaining, gossiping, lying, criticizing and being negative. We need to speak words of life, and when it comes to words of death, we should stop, but that’s easier said than done.

Are you more negative than you would like? I find it incredibly easy to slip into a mode of finding the negative things in life and complaining about them, rather than thinking of  good things and being thankful.

Like this one lady who was characterized as being very negative, she’d complain about absolutely everything. One day, she went to the grocery store, and was complaining because they only sell a whole head of lettuce. And she said, “I’m a single lady. I can’t eat all of the lettuce that goes bad. I demand that you sell me a half a head of lettuce!” And the worker there said, “We can’t,” and she threw a fit. So finally, the worker went back and was cutting the head of lettuce in half. One of his buddies said, “What in the world are you doing?” He said, “Oh, some grumpy old lady who’s just a pain, wants to buy a half a head of lettuce!” Then he looked up and saw that lady right by him, and he said, “And this fine lady would like to buy the other half of that head of lettuce.”

What I’ve found is that my words are only a symptom of the real issue that takes place in my heart. My Words Reveal The Condition Of My Heart.

Jesus said this…

…For out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks. The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in him, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in him. But I tell you that men will have to give account on the day of judgment for every careless word they have spoken. For by your words you will be acquitted, and by your words you will be condemned.” Matthew 12:34-37

I can see here that Jesus gets right to the heart of the matter.  My words are important, they come from within,  they are good or bad, they set free or condemn and I will give an account for them.

Here’s what I have learned:  from a negative heart overflows negative words which  become negative actions resulting in a miserable life.

This is one of the areas where God has done an overhaul on my heart. What I had to acknowledge is that my words were a symptom of a very deep and very real problem in my heart.  My heart was once full of resentment and bitterness and anger, and my words revealed the condition of my heart.  So do yours.

Here’s a formula to be negative and be miserable.  Complain about everything.  Complain about the weather, complain about the economy, complain about the prices of gas, complain about your physical features, how you used to be hot and now you’re not. Complain about the misplacement of your hair. It’s no longer on your head, now there’s more on your back or coming out of your ears. Complain about the way people drive …complain and complain and complain and you will be miserable.

Want to hate your job? Complain about the commute to work, complain about the people that you work with. Complain about your idiot boss that doesn’t know squat. Complain about the lousy benefit package. Complain about how you are undervalued. Complain about how you don’t like your work environment. In no time, you will hate your job.

If that’s not enough, let’s destroy your marriage, as well. Do you want to mess up a perfectly good marriage? Nit pick your spouse to death. Find anything, big things. Even more fun, find small things and nit pick them: the way they drive, the way they choose to get to a place, the way they chew their gum, the way they leave a little piece of food on their plate, the way their hair falls out and clogs up the shower drain, the way they leave their underwear laying around on the floor.  Complain about everything, and you will mess up a good marriage.   Think about it, when you were dating, you spoke words of life. “I love you!” Sweet,  Sugar pie,  Pumpkin, Muffin, … you’re so good looking’. You walk into the room and the smoke detector goes off, you’re so hot.”  Then years later, “You can’t do anything right!  I’m sick and tired of you. You’re making me miserable!”

If I’m negative about my life, my job and my spouse, does that make others want to be around me?   No!  Now, in case you think that I am over reacting with my own opinions, here’s a Proverb that explains this even better.

It is better to live alone in the desert than with a quarrelsome, complaining wife.  Proverbs 21:19

Now, ladies, I didn’t want to leave you out, this verse is true both ways, “it’s better to live alone than with a grumpy complaining husband.” You want to mess up your marriage? Speak words of criticism, complaining, negativity, and words of death.

I want to enjoy life, have people enjoy being around me and stay married!  In order to do that, I need to speak words of life, love and encouragement.

If I am constantly negative, I just ask myself, “What is in my heart?” Do I need to confess, anger, bitterness, negativity, ungratefulness and give it to God?  Are you ready to do that?

Darrell

PS. How do we live positive and see life differently?  In the next post we’ll look at how two people can be in the exact same circumstances yet see it TOTALLY different.  We will look at four different Bible stories, but we are going to see the exact same event from two different perspectives.  Which perspective will we take?