On POSITIVE ATTITUDE
The Twelve Spies in the Old Testament as recorded in the
Book of Numbers, who were dispatched by Moses to scout out the Land of Canaan
for 40 days as a future home for the Israelite people, during the time the
Israelites were in the desert following the Exodus from Ancient Egypt. The account
is found in Numbers 13, has got a very important lesson on Positive Attitude.
Report on the Exploration
26 They came back to Moses and Aaron and the whole
Israelite community at Kadesh in the Desert of Paran. There they reported to
them and to the whole assembly and showed them the fruit of the land. 27 They
gave Moses this account: “We went into the land to which you sent us, and it
does flow with milk and honey! Here is its fruit.
28 But the people who live there are powerful, and the
cities are fortified and very large. We even saw descendants of Anak there.
29 The Amalekites live in the Negev; the Hittites,
Jebusites and Amorites live in the hill country; and the Canaanites live near
the sea and along the Jordan.”
30 Then Caleb silenced the people before Moses and said,
“We should go up and take possession of the land, for we can certainly do it.”
31 But the men who had gone up with him said, “We can’t
attack those people; they are stronger than we are.” 32 And they spread among
the Israelites a bad report about the land they had explored. They said, “The
land we explored devours those living in it. All the people we saw there are of
great size. 33 We saw the Nephilim there (the descendants of Anak come from the
Nephilim). We seemed like grasshoppers in our own eyes, and we looked the same
to them.”
Story about four individuals who suffered from leprosy.
It is upon these four men and their choices for life that we want to focus.
2 Kings 7:3-11
New International Version (NIV)
The Siege Lifted
3 Now there were four men with leprosy at the entrance
of the city gate. They said to each other, “Why stay here until we die?
4 If we say,
‘We’ll go into the city’—the famine is there, and we will die. And if we stay
here, we will die. So let’s go over to the camp of the Arameans and surrender.
If they spare us, we live; if they kill us, then we die.”
5 At dusk they got up and went to the camp of the
Arameans. When they reached the edge of the camp, no one was there,
6 for the Lord had caused the Arameans to hear the
sound of chariots and horses and a great army, so that they said to one
another, “Look, the king of Israel has hired the Hittite and Egyptian kings to
attack us!”
7 So they got up and fled in the dusk and abandoned
their tents and their horses and donkeys. They left the camp as it was and ran
for their lives.
8 The men who had leprosy reached the edge of the camp
entered one of the tents and ate and drank. Then they took silver, gold and
clothes, and went off and hid them. They returned and entered another tent and
took some things from it and hid them also.
9 Then they said to each other, “What we’re doing is
not right. This is a day of good news and we are keeping it to ourselves. If we
wait until daylight, punishment will overtake us. Let’s go at once and report
this to the royal palace.”
10 So they went and called out to the city gatekeepers
and told them, “We went into the Aramean camp and no one was there—not a sound
of anyone—only tethered horses and donkeys, and the tents left just as they
were.”
11 The gatekeepers shouted the news, and it was reported within the
palace.
Is the glass half
empty or half full?
From Wikipedia, the free
encyclopedia
Is the glass half empty or
half full?
Is the glass half empty or half full? is a common
expression, used rhetorically to indicate that a particular situation
could be a cause for optimism (half full) or pessimism (half
empty), or as a general litmus test to simply determine an
individual's worldview. The purpose of the question is to demonstrate
that the situation may be seen in different ways depending on
one's point of view and that there may be
opportunity in the situation as well as trouble.
This idiom is used to
explain how people perceive events and objects. Perception is unique to every
individual and is simply one's interpretation of reality. The phrase "Is
the glass half empty or half full" can be referred to as a philosophical
question.
Silver lining (idiom)
The silver lining is a metaphor for optimism in the common
English-language idiom "Every cloud has a silver lining."
The origin of the phrase is traced to John Milton's
"Comus" (1634) with the lines,
“Was I deceiv'd, or did a sable cloud
Turn forth her silver lining on the night?
In every bad situation there is an element of good
Pollyanna
A popular term for someone
with the same optimistic outlook. The word "pollyanna" may
also denote a holiday gift exchange more typically known as Secret Santa. "Pollyanna
principle" (along with the adjective "Pollyannaish" and the noun
"Pollyannaism") into the language to describe someone who seems
always to be able to find something to be "glad" about no matter what
circumstances arise. It is sometimes used pejoratively, referring to someone
whose optimism is excessive to the point of naïveté or refusing to accept the
facts of an unfortunate situation.
Proverbs Chapter 23
King James Version
1 When thou sittest to eat with a
ruler, consider diligently what is before thee:
2 And put a knife to thy throat, if
thou be a man given to appetite.
3 Be not desirous of his dainties:
for they are deceitful meat.
4 Labour not to be rich: cease from
thine own wisdom.
5 Wilt thou set thine eyes upon that
which is not? for riches certainly make themselves wings; they fly away as an
eagle toward heaven.
6 Eat thou not the bread of him that
hath an evil eye, neither desire thou his dainty meats:
7 For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he: Eat and drink, saith he
to thee; but his heart is not with thee.
8 The morsel which thou hast eaten
shalt thou vomit up, and lose thy sweet words.
9 Speak not in the ears of a fool:
for he will despise the wisdom of thy words.
Don’t worry about tomorrow
Matthew 6:25-34
New International Version (NIV)
25 “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your
life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is
not life more than food, and the body more than clothes?
26 Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or
reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you
not much more valuable than they?
27 Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to
your life?
28 “And why do you worry about clothes? See how the
flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin.
29 Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his
splendor was dressed like one of these.
30 If that is how God clothes the grass of the field,
which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more
clothe you—you of little faith?
31 So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or
‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’
32 For the pagans run after all these things, and your
heavenly Father knows that you need them.
33 But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness,
and all these things will be given to you as well.
34 Therefore do
not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has
enough trouble of its own.
Don’t boast about tomorrow:
James 4 ESV
Boasting About Tomorrow
13 Come now, you who say, Today or tomorrow we will go
into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit”—
14 yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What
is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then
vanishes.
15 Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we
will live and do this or that.”
16 As it is, you boast in your arrogance. All such
boasting is evil.
17 So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to
do it, for him it is sin.
So Meditate in the word of God
Psalm 1
1 Blessed is the one
who does not
walk in step with the wicked
or stand in the way that sinners take
or sit in
the company of mockers,
2 but whose delight is in the law of the Lord,
and who
meditates on his law day and night.
3 That person is like a tree planted by streams of
water,
which yields
its fruit in season
and whose leaf does not wither—
whatever
they do prospers.
Joshua 1:7-8
New International Version (NIV)
7 “Be strong and very courageous. Be careful to obey
all the law my servant Moses gave you; do not turn from it to the right or to
the left, that you may be successful wherever you go.
8 Keep this Book of the Law always on your lips;
meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything
written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful.
Today is the day
Psalm 118:24
New King James Version (NKJV)
24 This is the day the Lord has made;
We will rejoice and be glad in it.
What to think upon?
Philippians 4:8
King James Version (KJV)
8 Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true,
whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are
pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if
there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.
Have a Positive and Blessed Day Ahead.
No comments:
Post a Comment