the true temple

[Carry_Your_Name]

Encouraging positivity as a Christian aligns perfectly with faith, love, and hope, which are central to God’s teachings. The Bible repeatedly emphasizes renewing the mind, thinking on what is good, and trusting in God's wisdom—all of which guide believers toward a life rooted in peace, joy, and purpose.

Yes, in principle, we ought to be content in every circumstance, but there's a nuance between contentment and complacency. The latter is a false sense of contentment, a bury your head in the sand attitude when there're works to be done and problems to be solved.

 

[Elijah7777]

Yes, in principle, we ought to be content in every circumstance, but there's a nuance between contentment and complacency. The latter is a false sense of contentment, a bury your head in the sand attitude when there're works to be done and problems to be solved.

My pastor preached over 160 sermons on what it means to have the mind of Christ and yet I still have a long ways to go to think the way God wants us to think.

 

[Carry_Your_Name]

My pastor preached over 160 sermons on what it means to have the mind of Christ and yet I still have a long ways to go to think the way God wants us to think.

From my own personal experience, one way God wants us to think is carrying our cross, sometimes even others'. Today there's a customer complaint, it was my colleague's fault, some of the the data he handed to me was frought with error, which was carried out in the report I delivered, and my boss's wrath was poured out on me first, even though the accountability was later clarified.

 

[Elijah7777]

carrying our cross

yes, we are to die to self and live for God.

 

[for_his_glory]

It's not easy at times, but we being the Temple of God need to follow that which is written in Colossians 3:1-17 putting on the new Spiritual man as we follow Christ and do not be conformed to this world.

 

[Bruce.Leiter]

Yes, it takes hard work if we want to stay alive. Even it is work for me to breath sometimes. I see an old guy out walking his dog every day and that is what keeps him and his dog alive. I have a therapist come into the house one day a week to encourage me to go beyond what I am doing.

I believe what the law of attraction people say that depression is the result of negative energy and we need positive energy. The Karma people say the same thing. Some people like Oprah think to be a Christian is positive energy overcoming the negative. The Bible clearly says that in everything we are to give thanks because God causes all things to work together for good for those who love God and are called according to His purpose. He gives us the desires of our heart so of course we need to purify out heart so we only desire what is good and beneficial for us.

Elijah7777, please let me share with you my experience with seven years of major depression. It began with fatigue, then continued with exhaustion, and finally became an emotional separation from the people around me. I finally sought God's help by psychological means at a Christian Mental Hospital (Pine Rest in Grand Rapids, MI). God used those folks to get me in touch with my unconscious anger and anxiety that were at the root of my depression.

As those feelings about the losses in my life surfaced, for the first time in decades, I began to express my true feelings. Then, I began to unload them on God in prayers of lament, the way Job, David, and Jeremiah did. It took 8 1/2 months three or four times a week for me honestly to share such prayers with God with tears.

Then, God gave me his peace of Philippians 4:6-7, which has persisted in my life for more than 3 decades; my depression never returned, as long as I lamented when the tiredness returned.

Read Psalms 6, 22, 39, 88; Job 10; Lamentations 3; and Habakkuk as examples of laments. The amazing thing is that God came a lot closer to me, even while I was angry with him for allowing, not causing, the losses in my life.