Negativity.

I posted a tweet recently that mentioned the uselessness of negative tweets. “If you find 90% of your Tweets/Statuses to be negative, that’s a serious heart issue. God doesn’t call us to flare tempers. Proverbs 15:1 NLT” I wanted to quickly elaborate on negativity and why it is harmful and why it eludes to a heart problem.

 

Bear with me for a moment as I sort-of take scripture out of context. This is something I usually speak against, so criticize me if you must. I’ll understand.

Matthew 7

16 You can identify them by their fruit, that is, by the way they act. Can you pick grapes from thorn bushes, or figs from thistles? 17 A good tree produces good fruit, and a bad tree produces bad fruit. 18 A good tree can’t produce bad fruit, and a bad tree can’t produce good fruit. 19 So every tree that does not produce good fruit is chopped down and thrown into the fire. 20 Yes, just as you can identify a tree by its fruit, so you can identify people by their actions.

In contexts this verse is speaking about false prophets and who disguise themselves as sheep. I think that we can acceptably apply this to the subject of being negative. This is may appear to be a stretch. But let’s flip it around to say, “Bad fruit, comes from a bad tree” If we are producing bad fruit i.e. negativity (or negative tweets!) then according to this verse we must be a bad tree.

However, it’s not too stretched because five chapters over we read, “A tree is identified by its fruit. If a tree is good, its fruit will be good. If a tree is bad, its fruit will be bad.” And it goes on to say in “For whatever is in your heart determines what you say.” (Matthew 12:33-34) There it is. Plain and simple. If our actions and our words are negative, we have negativity in our heart. As believers we have no reason to be negative, we only have reason to shout praises and rejoice (and again I say!).

James tells us that salt and fresh water cannot mix. Think about it this way, when you put salt water and fresh water together it becomes – salt water. No matter how much pure water you add to it, it is still salt water! “Blessings and coursing flow out of the same mouth! Surely brothers and sisters, this is not right!”

I guess the question is: Is praise that comes out of a negative heart, really praise at all?

Take note that the message puts it this way. “These diseased trees with their bad apples are going to be chopped down and burned.”

I would say that the reason I’m so passionate about this topic is because it is something that I struggle with. God is delivering me from my negativity, allowing me to become optimistic. With God, we have no reason not to have brightness and to be positive. Plus, nobody likes a Negative Nancy!

So there it is. My little blurb about negativity. Nothing profound, just my thoughts and my crazy brains way of connecting things.