Dealing with Negativity

Negativity

Have you ever uttered these words, “I have had it up to here with….?” I think all of us have, but what were the next words that came to mind, or to your lips?

All of us have been subjected to these kinds of words, thoughts and actions if we are human. These kinds of things bring on stress and anxieties and both of them are killers. The Bible tells us that the thief comes to kill, steal and destroy and one of the weapons he uses against us is disease and one of the major causes of disease today in the United States is stress.

The Bible also tells us that we are not to be anxious. This is a command. In fact, it is a commandment given by Jesus in the sermon of the mount. Breaking a command by Jesus is a sin and sin has consequences. The wages of sin is death. Death caused by disease brought on by stress; death caused by continual sin or death caused by rebellion is the same. Death is death-regardless of the cause.

I was introduced recently to the possibility of dying due to heart/stroke problems. Prayer according to the Word of God was my first line of defense. Improving my eating habits was my second line of defense and gratitude to God was my third. I lived! What I am trying to say is that if a person knew he might die prematurely, he would probably do everything in his power to stay alive. We can do the same thing, if we are wise, to not die because of stress related disease.

An article in Psychology Today gives the following warnings about stress and it’s effect on the body. It introduces the article with the statement, “Stress can take a toll on the cardiovascular [heart], immune, memory & reproductive systems and age us faster.” *If the stressor is chronic, the result is chronically elevated blood pressure which puts a lot of stress on small vessels in your body. This causes so much damage. Stress can promote blood vessel damage such as inflammations and increasing plaques. Also, stress chemicals make the blood viscous like honey, resulting in narrower vessels, high blood pressure amounting to a disaster if the blood supply becomes too slow or is completely obstructed.

*If a stressor remains beyond an hour or so, the immune system shuts down and can make a person susceptible to disease.

*In long term stress, stress chemicals accumulate in the brain and cause damage to memory brain areas such as the hippocampus.

*Being overstressed not only reduces the desire for sex but can shut down the entire reproductive system.

*Under extended periods of stress, too much cortisol is released in the brain and brain areas involved in cognitive and sensory abilities such as memory, decision making, multitasking, flexible thinking and reaction times are compromised.

These thoughts came as a result of reading the article found here:

https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/neuroscience-in-everyday-life/201901/can-stress-kill-you-what-doesnt-kill-you-kills-you-slowly?eml

Answers

Don’t be anxious

Philippians 4:6-7 (NASB) 6 Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. 7 And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

The Apostle Paul gives us one of the answers to this problem of being anxious. Don’t! Notice what he says in vs 7:

The peace of God will guardyour hearts and minds; against cardiological problems, memory problems, immune problems, etc.

Negative Persons

Much of our stress is caused by those with whom we associate. If at all possible, distance yourself from unhealthy relationships. There are certain people in my life that seem to bring a backpack full of stress with them whenever they show up.

I have a person with whom I am forced to deal on a weekly basis. This person is working off a debt he owes us by being a handyman five hours per week-that is if he shows up! When he does show up, his work is slow and substandard. Just today Karen asked him to do some house cleaning because we have guests coming for supper. He was simply to sweep, vacuum and mop the floors.

When I returned home from church, I found dirt in many places, no sign that the linoleum had been mopped and the vacuuming will have to be redone. I found myself uttering those words with which I began this blog, “I have had it up to here with ….”

How do I handle this? I have decided to distance myself from this situation even if it costs me money. I am feeling better already.

Remove Negative Influences

Not only is a lot of news today “fake news” but for the most part it is very negative news and we get addicted to it. If you are like me, I have to fight checking my news app several times a day to see what is happening-especially in politics. I have sides I pick on any issue and I just get infuriated when the other side seems to be so blind! Even though I tend to come down on the Republican side more often than not, I find my self saying, “If he would just stay off twitter, things would be better.” Now, I am exasperated at both sides of the argument. How much better my attitude would be if I would just curtail my watching of the news.

Gossip

Gossip is like gambling. It lures you in. It fills a void inside that nothing else can. It takes two (or more) persons to gossip-one to talk and the other to listen. As Christians we tend to mask gossip as prayerful concern. We can’t wait until we find out if our “prayers” were answered.

Gossip is a sin and is like cancer-yours! Gossip also effects our opinion of others and like any sin, gossip will eat away at us until we die-at least our spiritual life will die. If we will crucify this desire to gossip, quit running everyone down in our conversations and quit spreading and listening, a lot of negativity in our lives will come to a halt.

Rearrange our thoughts

Philippians 4:8-9 (NASB) 8 Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things. 9 The things you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you.

Anxiety, stress, fear and doubt pretty much are a by-product of thinking according to the flesh. We need to take authority over our flesh and bring our thoughts into line with God’s word. Paul helps us do this by admonishing us to rearrange our thinking processes.

If you are accustomed to thinking negatively, being a pessimist, giving into and spreading fear, gossip and doubt, thinking differently will be difficult in the beginning. However, rearranging your thoughts is possible with the help of the Word of God and the Spirit of God. How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time.

God honors every effort we make to change our character and he rewards every action no matter how small. Start today to change your life with the Lord’s help. You can do it.