“Think positive,” That’s what the therapist said. “You’ve been through a terrible tragedy. You are grieving an awful loss. Don’t let it suck you down a hole of despair … Think positive.” In actuality, since she put it that way, it’s actually very hard to think positive. The truth of the matter is that one way or another, all of life in this world ends with grief. If one dies young, it is an awful tragedy. If one dies old, one becomes a wrinkled, feeble shell of what one was. The statistics are clear, 1 out of 1 people die.
If one’s basic presupposition is that there is no God, and we are all products of random chance, then there really is no way to think positive. We are nothing more than animals and there is no meaning to this life other than to engage in as much narcissistic pleasure as you can before one dies. There are at least two problems with this viewpoint: 1) All happiness is based upon circumstances and cannot last for any significant amount of time. In other words, happiness is fleeting. 2) If success is gauged by happiness, and happiness is based upon things and circumstances, then you’ll always be able to find someone who is happier than you. Simply put, if there is no God, there is no way one can be a realist and think positive.
If, however, one believes in the God of the Bible, then as I always say, “For the Christian, the best is always yet to come.” The reason I can be positive is because I believe in the Jesus of the Bible, the Jesus who resurrected and appeared to over 500 eyewitnesses, the Jesus who fulfilled countless prophesies against astronomical odds, the Jesus who created the millions of galaxies in the universe and yet fashioned the tiniest cell that makes up my beautiful little daughter, and the Jesus that transforms lives everyday. I believe in the God who knows every detail of my life who saves every tear that I cry and who is my personally loving Heavenly Father. Allow me to quote Him: “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” (Jeremiah 29:11)
To just think positive is ludicrous without an objective reality. I can, however, be positive simply because I know my God loves me and will take perfect care of me no matter the circumstances.
“Because He lives, I can face tomorrow. Because He lives, all fear is gone. Because I know, I know who holds the future, and life is worth the living just because He lives.”
Tim