Positive Mental Attitude
The biggest battle that must be fought and won for your survival is in your mind. To the Corinthians, Paul wrote about “tak[ing] every thought captive,” and rightly so, because if our mind is overtaken with doubt and despair, we have lost the fight even before it has begun.
To that end, one of the most important things to consider is: What are you putting into your mind? If you spend your day watching media broadcasts (regardless of which flavor), scrolling through social media sites, and listening to talking heads spew their doom and gloom, it will accomplish in you the very thing it was designed to accomplish: your dependence and despair. How do we combat this?
1. Get Unplugged
First, unplug. Like an IV drip of sedative, the constant input of media and messages of despair are shaping your mind and your thoughts. Turn off the television; cancel your social media accounts. Get away from all of it.
2. Connect to the Word
Jesus tells us in John 15 that apart from Him we can do nothing. We must become men and women who abide in the Word, whose minds and thoughts and desires are shaped by the living and active Word of God. Psalm 27 begins, “The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?” It closes, “Wait for the Lord; be strong, and let your heart take courage; wait for the Lord!” Let the promises of a sovereign God drown out the gloom and doom surrounding us today.
3. Surround Yourself with Positive People
We all need close friends who share our hope and our positive outlook. From time to time, we will all struggle and fall, but having a Barnabas (“son of encouragement”) in our corner is a tremendous hedge against despair. Find those people, encourage them, and share the journey with good company.
4. Make a Plan
Finally, remember that those who fail to plan have actually planned to fail. “We are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who have faith and preserve their souls” (Heb. 10:39). We know that difficult times are ahead of us. In fact, since the fall of Adam when the soil turned against us, difficult days have been a common theme for all of us.
So figure out how you will care for and protect your family, surround yourself with a community who can help, and begin taking steps to be a light – first to your family, then to your community. Protect your mind and fill it with a steady diet of good news, not the junk being peddled on the street corners today.