Be an Optimist Prime, Not a Negatron!

I try, at least to the best of my ability, to be one of those people that see the glass as half full. It was not always that way for me however. I used to be the kid that would throw himself into a rampage (think charging baby rhino) when something wouldn’t go the way I planned it to. I would throw a fit and only look at the negative of the situation. I had the mindset that things weren’t going to be as good because they didn’t turn out as I planned. I had a negative attitude. Let’s look at a guy who didn’t have this attitude:

^“12 Now I want you to know, brothers and sisters, that what has happened to me has actually served to advance the gospel. ¹³ As a result, it has become clear throughout the whole palace guard and to everyone else that I am in chains for Christ. ¹⁴ And because of my chains, most of the brothers and sisters have become confident in the Lord and dare all the more to proclaim the gospel without fear.” (Philippians 1.12-14 ESV emp. added)

Paul was a man who was in prison…a lot! However he didn’t view his being “in chains” as something to be said about! He actually turned it around and used his imprisonment as an evangelistic tool! The whole prison guard knew that he was in chains for Christ! We actually see that some believers may have come from his imprisonment from the house of Caesar:

^“22 All God’s people here send you greetings, especially those who belong to Caesar’s household.” (Philippians 4.22 ESV)

These people would’ve more than likely been servants in Caesar’s household and were probably not Caesar’s family members. Nevertheless, Paul took an opportunity that we would view as a negative thing and it turned out that it was really a positive experience! We can learn a lot from this positive attitude of Paul’s. 

It may be that when something doesn’t go your way you keep your head up and “roll with the punches”, or maybe a traffic jam causes you and your co-workers you’re carpooling with to be late, but you stay upbeat anyway. People will notice your optimistic attitude! Optimism is contagious! This week I want you to try and look at the positive side of things and by things I mean EVERYTHING! See what kind of impact that positivity will have on your peers. I think you will be surprised and amazed by the results…or you may not, maybe I’m just being optimistic. –Jack D.