As most of us are aware, it is not always easy to maintain a positive attitude during our days of discipleship In spite of our prospect of being in the kingdom of God, we are subject to most of the hardships that beset mankind around us Peter puts it this way “[We] are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed m the last time Wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need be, ye are m heaviness through manifold temptations” (I Peter 1 5-6)
In verse 7, Peter makes the point that greatly helps us take a positive outlook on even our difficulties “That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honor and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ” Our trials now are helping to refine our characters so we might be fit for the kingdom of God James adds his voice with the same encouragement “My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations, knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing” (James 1 2-4)
Consider the patriarchs
When we look to scriptural accounts, we see examples of negative and positive thinking even among the people of God Take the example of Abraham and Sarah and the negative thinking shown when they were m Egypt (Gen 12 10) Because of fear, they presented themselves as brother and sister rather than husband and wife to the Egyptians As a result, Sarah was taken into Pharaoh’s house to become part of his household Years later, virtually the same thing happened again with Abimelech, king of Gerar (Gen 20 2) Again Sarah was taken into the ruler’s house
Why would Abraham do such a thing? He was afraid! His attitude was negative, not positive He should have trusted in God to protect him, for God had promised to be with Abraham at all times (Gen 12 1-3, 177)
But thankfully God did not abandon Abraham because of his weakness In both cases, the Almighty cared for Sarah by bringing plagues on Pharaoh’s house and by severely warning Abimelech in a dream.
Negative thinking was not the norm for Abraham, for at many other times he thought very positively about God and the promises His confidence to continue wandering in tents rather than settling down m a city proved he looked for a promise which was future, but was certain to come And his willingness to trust Isaac would be raised from the dead if necessary is one of the great examples of faith for all time.
If we look at Jacob, we see him m a very stressful situation as Esau approached to meet him (Gen 32 6) Remembering Esau’s threats against him, Jacob prayed urgently to God “Deliver me, I pray thee, from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau for I fear him, lest he will come and smite me, and the mother with the children” (Gen 32 11) Jacob knew the meeting was inevitable if he was to return to the land of promise But became back with a positive attitude, trusting God would continue to look after him as He had so far
We note something for our instruction the arrangements Jacob made for the meeting While his trust was in God, he would also send gifts to his brother and make arrangements for his wives and children Even when we trust m God, we must do our own part and not leave to Him the precautions and preparations that are within our power to perform God beautifully answered Jacob as the meeting with Esau could not have gone better “And Esau ran to meet him, and embraced him, and fell on his neck, and kissed him and they wept” (Gen 33 4)
David’s example
Because of his sin, David would lose the child conceived with Bathsheba Yet his attitude was positive throughout Even when he was weeping for the child, he did so with a positive attitude toward God “Who can tell whether God will be gracious to me, that the child may live” (II Sam 12 22) Then when the child died, “David comforted Bathsheba his wife, and went m unto her, and lay with her and she bare a son, and he called his name Solomon [peace]” (v 24)
Certainly we have here an example to trust that our God is a forgiving God and, even when we sin, if we repent we can trust m His mercy
Peter’s extremes
One of the most dramatic examples of swinging from a negative to a positive attitude is seen m Peter When Peter saw what was happening to his Lord, all of his courage evaporated Just hours ago he had declared he would die with Christ, “But he denied before them all, saying, I know not what thou sayest I do not know the man I know not the man” (Matt 26 70,72,74) He had the terribly negative attitude that all was lost.
But what a change came about, Standing before “their rulers, and elders, and scribes, and Annas the high priest, and Caiaphas “Peter not only admitted to knowing Jesus, he won’t stop publicly proclaiming the resurrection even at the risk of imprisonment and death “Whether it be right in the sight of God to hearken unto you more than unto God, judge ye For we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard” (Acts 45,6,19)
The disciple is capable of being overcome with great fear, but our Lord is able to raise him up so a positive attitude is again possible
Peter’s exhortation to us
We began by referring to the first epistle of Peter and now we go back to it to see his exhortation that we maintain a positive attitude in the various areas of our lives There are many things to complain about with our government, but Peter urges us to “Submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord’s sake Honor the king” (I Peter 213,18) For the Lord’s sake we are not to be grumbling and uncooperative because He has established rulership’s “for the punishment of evildoers, and for the praise of them that do well” (v 14) It’s a good thing they are there, for we would have a hard time without an ordered society.
And we are to have a positive attitude to our employers (vs 18-20) We may feel injustice sometimes prevails But when it does, even in an extreme form, we are “for conscience toward God [to] endure grief, suffering wrongfully [knowing] this is acceptable with God.” Then he goes on with the ultimate encouragement “For even hereunto were ye called because Christ also suffered for us “(v 21) To think that suffering at work could put us in the footsteps of Christ is high incentive indeed to maintain a positive attitude.
Then he turns to domestic matters and urges wives to have a good attitude to their husbands and husbands to be gracious to their wives Included in the exhortation to wives is an allusion to the Abraham-Sarah incident we looked at earlier “Even as Sara obeyed Abraham, calling him lord whose daughters ye are, as long as ye do well, and are not afraid with any amazement” (I Peter 3 6) One would think Sarah would lose all respect for Abraham after he put her in such danger in Egypt But she did not She continued to have a positive attitude to him because she had learned to trust in God and “was not afraid with any amazement” She no doubt suspected Abraham might do the same thing again (which he did), but she had learned to trust God in all the circumstances of life.
Husbands, meanwhile, are to give “honor unto the wife, as unto the weaker vessel, and as being heirs together of the grace of life” (v 7) In a day when we so regularly hear about domestic violence, this verse is an appropriate exhortation The man is not to take any advantage of a greater strength, but instead is to treat his wife with all the more care and love We can also see there is to be no air of spiritual superiority about the man for he is to regard his wife his equal when it comes to their eternal inheritance.
If we could follow Peter’s exhortation contained in these verses, it would do much to eliminate a lot of the negative thinking that can trouble a marriage.
As Peter’s words continue, we find our final encouragement to maintain a positive attitude in the Truth “For the eyes of the Lord are over the righteous, and his ears are open unto their prayers but the face of the Lord is against them that do evil” (I Peter 3 12)
The Origin of the Organic World – Part One