This Week's Light Service Sermon

Light Service Sermons for the Month
Maximize Your Life
X out the Negatives
DATE: January 21, 2001
TEXT: Philippians 4:13

In one of Russell Myer's Broom Hilda comic strips, Broom Hilda is looking over the edge of a cliff. Across the deep canyon is Gaylord the buzzard. Gaylord is trying to convince Broom Hilda to join him on the other side.
Broom Hilda looks down into the deep ravine and says, "I can't jump that far!" To which Gaylord replies, "You're defeating yourself with negative thinking. I'm writing a book on the power of positive thought, in which I can prove you can do anything if you have the correct attitude!"
Broom Hilda again surveys the deep canyon and as she does, Gaylord gives her one more pep talk. "Tell yourself you can do it--and do it!" Suddenly Broom Hilda feels a new surge of self-confidence. She cries out, "OK. Here I come!" She then takes a few steps backward, runs as fast as she can toward the cliff and with all of her strength leaps into the air--and falls down into the depths of the canyon.
As Gaylord watches her fall he says to himself, "You know, I think I'll add a chapter on building up your leg muscles."
I don't know about you, but I tend to be a bit wary of positive thinking seminars and sermons. While I agree that we need to be positive, I sometimes get the feeling that certain positive thinking advocates are really out of touch with reality--that they live in a world that doesn't exist. Life simply cannot be that easy or that perky.
As one person put it, optimists are those who tell you to cheer up when things are going their way.
But life doesn't always go our way. Stock markets slide. Marriages fall apart. Loved ones pass away. Jobs are eliminated. And sometimes life stinks. Sometimes life doesn't seem all that positive. And there are times when a few positive thinking gurus give the impression that no matter what life throws our way, if we're positive enough, it won't hurt that much. So, as I said, I tend to be a bit wary of some aspects of the positive thinking movement.
On the other hand, all of the research confirms that positive thinking is healthy for us. Optimists tend to have stronger immune systems than pessimists. They heal more quickly than do negative thinkers. They also tend to live longer. And, more often than not, optimists are better able to enjoy and maximize life.
Research also tells us that each one of us has the ability to determine our attitude. We can choose to look at life positively, or we can choose to look at life negatively. So if it's healthier for us to choose optimism than pessimism, then perhaps we need to listen to those who advocate positive thinking, even though we need to do so with some caution.
But perhaps the most important reason to consider cultivating an optimistic attitude is because our creator invites us to. He knows that we can position ourselves to make the most out of life when we choose to live life from a positive perspective.
And in the Bible, God shares with us what a healthy, positive attitude looks like. In our Bible reading for today we have the story of a man who was facing overwhelming odds in life, and yet was able to cultivate an attitude that helped him rise above them. And he shares with us how we can do the same. So as we continue to look at the ingredients of maximized living, we're going to take a few minutes today to see what the Bible has to say about X'ing out the negatives. But before we do, let's pray together.
(PRAYER)
Paul had been a faithful follower of Jesus for many years. But his walk with Jesus had been anything but easy. As a leader of the early Christian movement Paul often found himself in life and death situations. Five times he underwent public whippings of 39 lashes. Three times the Romans beat him with a stick. He was stoned and left for dead. He was even shipwrecked three times. Certainly not a care free, pain-free life by any means. And yet through it all Paul was able to maintain an incredibly optimistic attitude toward life.
As an example of that, in our Bible reading for today, Paul is in prison. He has no idea what the future holds for him. All he knows is that he's facing a trial that could very will lead him to death. And yet, in what any of us would consider to be devastating circumstances, Paul writes, "Rejoice in the Lord. I say it again, rejoice!"
Now I'm not sure that's the first thing that most of us would write under the same circumstances. So either Paul is some kind of out-of-touch nut and needs therapy, or he's discovered the secret of maximizing one's life no matter what the circumstances. I'd like to suggest it's the second option--that Paul had discovered the secret to living above his circumstances and deriving his joy in life from something far greater.
Hugh Downs, of the television show, 20/20, says that a happy person is not a person in a certain set of circumstances but rather a person with a certain set of attitudes. And this was Paul's secret to staying hope-filled in the face of seemingly hopeless future. Paul had cultivated a certain set of attitudes based on a unique perspective--a perspective that enabled him to live with energy and joy no matter what the circumstances. He shares that attitude-changing perspective with us in the fourth chapter of his letter to his friends in Philippi. He writes, "Christ gives me the strength to face anything."
For Paul, a positive, hope-filled attitude wasn't something he conjured up out of thin air. Instead, Paul was able to look at life positively because he was looking at life from God's perspective. And that perspective shaped in him an optimistic view toward life.
In other words, what Paul is telling us is that we can X out the negatives in life when we see life from God's point of view. And that, essentially, is how the Bible defines positive thinking. Positive thinking is nothing more or less than a realistic appraisal of life based on God's perspective. It's choosing to see life through God's eyes rather than our own. And as we do that we find the freedom to experience all of the emotions, all of the ups and downs of life, and at the same time remain hopeful and confident through it all.
Little David was getting on the bus when one of the students accidentally bumped him into the seat, causing a two-inch cut on his cheek. During recess he collided with one of his classmates and lost a tooth. During lunch break he fell on the ice and broke his wrist. When dad arrived at the hospital he noticed that David was holding tightly to a quarter with his good hand. When asked about I, David said, "I found it on the ground when I fell. This is the first quarter I ever found. This sure is my lucky day."
Paul wants us to know that when Jesus lives in us, he will help us see life from his perspective--a perspective that validates the tough times of life but doesn't allow them to have the final say--a perspective that energizes us with hope.
You see, God's perspective reminds us that there will be crosses in life, and those crosses are painful. Paul certainly could attest to that as can Jesus. But God's perspective also sees the resurrection on the other side of the cross reminding us that God will have the final word and it will be good. God's perspective recognizes the painful times of life and allows us to deal with them through sorrow, anger, grief, and tears. But God's perspective gets us through with the hope that on the other side of the cross is life, healing, and joy. The X's in life don't have to win. The resurrection will. And that hope keeps us positive through it all.
A Little Leaguer was playing in the outfield in the first game of the season. After chasing a long hit and hustling to throw the ball back into the infield, a passerby asked him how his team was doing and what the score was. The boy said his team was doing OK but they were losing 17 to 0.
The passerby asked him if he was discouraged about being so far behind and if he was ready to admit defeat. The boy replied, "We aren't ready to give up. We aren't beaten. We haven't even been up to bat yet."
Taking a realistic look at life from God's perspective in no way minimizes the pain that life can sometimes bring. Sometimes we do lose the game. Sometimes we win. Sometimes we shed a lot of tears. Sometimes we laugh. Life is real. But when seen through the death and resurrection of Jesus we're able to see the bigger picture--we're able to see the hope on the other side of the cross, and that enables us, like Paul, to stay optimistic through it all, and to maximize our lives in the process. You see, too many of us fail to make our lives count because of crosses we face in life. Those crosses have a way of Xing out our desire to maximize our lives. But when Jesus captures our hearts, he reminds us that we haven't even been up to bat yet. He X's out the negatives and gives us hope that energizes us to move through the pain to the possibilities on the other side.
Two little girls were playing one day and one asked the other, "Wouldn't you hate to wear glasses all of the time?"
The other replied, "No-o-o, not if I had the kind Grandma wears. She see how to fix a lot of things, and she sees lots of nice things to do on rainy days, and she sees when folks are tired and sorry, and what will make them feel better, and she always sees what you meant to do even if you haven't gotten things just right. I asked her one day how she could see that way all the time, and she said it was the way she had learned to look at things as she grew older. So it must be her glasses."
Someone once put it this way, "There has never been a case of eye strain which was caused by looking on the bright side of things." Paul would agree. We maximize our lives when we choose to look at life from God's perspective.
But Paul would take it one step further, and this is his most crucial point. Viewing life from God's perspective isn't something we can do on our own. Our natural bent is to look at life from our own perspective, which is limited and often debilitating. For Paul, seeing life from God's perspective is created in us when Jesus is the center and focus of our lives. Paul says it is Christ living in him that enables him to face anything. Jesus gives him the strength to keep going when life is tough, reminding him that he has gone before Paul through the cross and made it through to the resurrection. And because Jesus made it through he can help Paul make it through. And he can help us as well.
So God's invitation to us to us today is to welcome Jesus to come and transform our attitudes--to welcome him to come and put the glasses of God's perspective over our hearts and minds--to welcome him to come and help us maximize our lives as he X's out the negatives. For Jesus promises to strengthen us to face all things by helping us to face all things by helping us see and live life from God's perspective. And that perspective energizes us to maximize our lives.
AMEN