12/04/10 TRAIN WRECK ALERT
The sooner you start entertaining a negative attitude, the longer you will create discontent, and the harder it will be to change. If minor issues of life sidetrack you now, major upheaval will derail you later. "Finally, brothers, whatsoever things are true... honest... just... pure... lovely... of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things." Ph. 4:8
CONSIDER THIS (please read entire Bible passages)...
Those who enjoy being negative and contrary, see themselves as being realists and being true to themselves, when in reality they are showing lack of faith in Christ, they are deceiving themselves and they are corrupting other people. They may think of others as being Pollyanna, when in fact the others might be faithing it through the obstacles of life.
In Stevenson's The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll And Mr. Hyde, the dark nature took more and more of the doctor's personality and life until it consumed and destroyed him.
We are all born with the "dark nature" or "dark side," which the Bible calls, the Old Man, the Carnal Mind, the Sinful Nature, the Evil Heart of Unbelief, the Root of Bitterness, the Double Mind, the Flesh. We are all born with a need for salvation. We are not only told to put on (like a coat) the New Man, we are told to put off (like a coat) the Old Man.
Ephesians 4:22-24
(22) That ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts;
(23) And be renewed in the spirit of your mind;
(24) And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.
Actually, we cannot be fully clothed in the New Man until we have put off the Old Man. The threads that make up the coat of carnality are;
Colossians 3:8-10
(8) But now ye also put off all these; anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication out of your mouth.
(9) Lie not one to another, seeing that ye have put off the old man with his deeds;
(10) And have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him:
Paul addressed this idea to the Romans by saying;
Romans 13:10-14
(10) Love works no ill to his neighbor: therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.
(11) And that, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep: for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed.
(12) The night is far spent, the day is at hand: let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armor of light.
(13) Let us walk honestly, as in the day; not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, not in strife and envying.
(14) But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfill the lusts thereof.
As believers in Christ, He will not only forgive our sins, He will impart His nature,
2 Peter 1:4
(4) Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.
And He will deliver us from all sin, including the the Mr. Hyde we are born with.
Romans 6:20-23
(20) For when ye were the servants of sin, ye were free from righteousness.
(21) What fruit had ye then in those things whereof ye are now ashamed? for the end of those things is death.
(22) But now being made free from sin, and become servants to God, ye have your fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life.
(23) For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
I am not calling for a surge in PMA (Positive Mental Attitude), I am calling for a faith in Christ, which leads to
CONSIDER THIS (please read entire Bible passages)...
Those who enjoy being negative and contrary, see themselves as being realists and being true to themselves, when in reality they are showing lack of faith in Christ, they are deceiving themselves and they are corrupting other people. They may think of others as being Pollyanna, when in fact the others might be faithing it through the obstacles of life.
In Stevenson's The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll And Mr. Hyde, the dark nature took more and more of the doctor's personality and life until it consumed and destroyed him.
We are all born with the "dark nature" or "dark side," which the Bible calls, the Old Man, the Carnal Mind, the Sinful Nature, the Evil Heart of Unbelief, the Root of Bitterness, the Double Mind, the Flesh. We are all born with a need for salvation. We are not only told to put on (like a coat) the New Man, we are told to put off (like a coat) the Old Man.
Ephesians 4:22-24
(22) That ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts;
(23) And be renewed in the spirit of your mind;
(24) And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.
Actually, we cannot be fully clothed in the New Man until we have put off the Old Man. The threads that make up the coat of carnality are;
Colossians 3:8-10
(8) But now ye also put off all these; anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication out of your mouth.
(9) Lie not one to another, seeing that ye have put off the old man with his deeds;
(10) And have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him:
Paul addressed this idea to the Romans by saying;
Romans 13:10-14
(10) Love works no ill to his neighbor: therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.
(11) And that, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep: for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed.
(12) The night is far spent, the day is at hand: let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armor of light.
(13) Let us walk honestly, as in the day; not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, not in strife and envying.
(14) But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfill the lusts thereof.
As believers in Christ, He will not only forgive our sins, He will impart His nature,
2 Peter 1:4
(4) Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.
And He will deliver us from all sin, including the the Mr. Hyde we are born with.
Romans 6:20-23
(20) For when ye were the servants of sin, ye were free from righteousness.
(21) What fruit had ye then in those things whereof ye are now ashamed? for the end of those things is death.
(22) But now being made free from sin, and become servants to God, ye have your fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life.
(23) For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
I am not calling for a surge in PMA (Positive Mental Attitude), I am calling for a faith in Christ, which leads to
1) Turning from sin,
2) Dying to self,
3) Growing in grace and
4) Following Jesus fully.
