Guest Post by Natalie Braine: The Positivity Revolution
Is sadness a bad thing?
Go ahead, take a second to think about it. This probably isn’t the first thing you’d think about,
but society seems to be obsessed with this topic.
In culture’s eyes, out of all the emotions a person could have, sadness or discomfort is the most
evil. And there’s an element of truth in that – we live in a world with sin since the fall. And sin is
not the way things are meant to be. However… we’re human. No matter how hard we try,
negative thoughts and emotions will always be a part of our lives. And that isn’t always a bad
thing. The most beautiful things in life are often birthed out of difficult situations. That seems like
an oxymoron to secular eyes. Not only an oxymoron, a serious problem. For every problem,
people search for a solution. And for western cultures, the answer to this millennia-long
emotions epidemic is to fight fire with fire.
Instead of weeping over that for which weeping is rightly deserved, their answer is to replace
said thoughts with more positive ones. You’re not a worrier, you’re a warrior! You’re not anxious,
you’ve got a clear mind! You’re not sad, you’re made to be happy!
This is a completely new way of thinking. Throughout the centuries in the Christian West, life
was seen more as a pilgrimage toward eternal joy. That joy is only to be found once the Lord
ushers us at last into his eternal kingdom (“crossing over Jordan”). But in the present day, our
journey in this fallen world will be marked with both blessings and tears as we walk by faith, not
by sight. Then in the mid–20th century, with the abundance of technological advancement, the
post WWII economic boom in America, and an unprecedented ease of daily life, a strange thing
happened. A previously implausible concept somehow became a possiblity. Comfort and
happiness could be achievable if you really set your mind to it. It was a radical turn. The media
is obsessed with this new mindset, with movies, music, and stickers all spreading the ‘don’t
worry, be happy’ mantra.
This ideology isn’t just confined to secular culture. In fact, you’ve probably seen it floating
around in a lot of Christian circles. You might have seen a water bottle sticker that says “Jesus
wants you to be happy”, heard a sermon assuring you that prayer fixes everything, or watched a
movie where everything in the main character’s life was fixed after he was baptized.
Oh if only these were reality.
While life in Christ gives us fullness of Joy, life in this fallen world is a struggle. Ever since
humanity’s fall things just can’t be as blissfully happy as Hallmark wants us to believe. Anxiety is
a real issue, sadness is a real emotion, and thinking happy thoughts won’t actually take you to
Neverland. Jesus never promises that life will be easy. In John 16:33, He directly tells us that in
this world we will have trouble. What He does do is promise to walk with us through the
hardships.
But there’s more to the issue than “it’s not realistic.” That’s just the tip of the iceberg.
Let’s start with all these statements starting with the three-letter phrase “I am.” I am brave. I am
an overcomer. I am beautiful. I am intelligent. I am… fill in the blank. All these ‘affirmations’ are
used in our culture to take down negative emotions, but they take root in something completely
different.
You may not be familiar with the New Thought ideology. New Thought, according to Melissa
Dougherty, is described as “the positive thinking movement with Jesus as its mascot.” It’s hard
to pin down it’s exact definition because it’s so broad, but it’s a non-biblical philosophy that
promotes the idea that all the power you need can be found within yourself.
One of the key teachings in New Thought is called the “Christ Consciousness.” It’s the idea that
Jesus wasn’t any different from you and me. Rather, He found the “Christ” (not as we know the
title to mean) within Himself, and that same “Christ” is buried deep in the hearts of everyone in
the world. In essence, we all have “the Christ” within us that just needs to be unlocked. Yes,
that’s all heretical (technically and literally!).
Here’s the crazy thing. Because people who follow this mentality believe that they have this little
god or goddess inside them, whenever they hear the one true God refer to Himself as “I Am” in
Scripture, they think they have the ability to say “me too!” to that statement and add on whatever
they want to it. For example, I am smart. I am loyal. I am confident. The list goes on.
But the Gospel isn’t about you. Jesus didn’t die for you because you have some power within
you to unlock, He died for you because you can’t make it in this world alone. The Gospel is
about Jesus, and what He did to save humanity from our own weakness. He died for you to take
away the stain of your sin in your life, and the light of that freedom is more vibrant than anything
you can find within yourself.
Most Christians wouldn’t think to question the origin of ‘affirmations,’ but it’s important to be
discerning and test anything that claims to be Christian against what God actually says in
Scripture. Hebrews 4 tells us that ‘the word of God is living and active, sharper than any
two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and
discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.’ The Bible will always be true and effective in
discerning the truth from the lies. Why? Purely because it’s the very words of the Being who
created the universe, who knows every aspect of time and space. It’s the most reliable resource
on earth, and you can trust it to know what’s true and what’s not.
So what does the Bible say about self sufficiency? It says that the salvation of man is in vain
(Psalm 108), that the heart is deceitful above all things (Jeremiah 17) and to lean not on our
own understanding (Proverbs 3). No matter how much we don’t want these things to be true,
Scripture never lies. It instead calls us to put our trust in Christ, Whose yoke is easy and His
burden is light (Matthew 11).
My heart aches for the people who believe that they hold in themselves the strength to make it
through this life alone. There’s no comfort in our own self-sufficiency. Now I don’t agree with everything this woman says, but Allie Beth Stuckey was right when she said “If the self is the
problem, the self can’t also be the solution.”
What then is the solution? The solution is finding refuge in Christ. He is the only person who
could possibly be sufficient for all our needs. This doesn’t mean that everything in our lives
today will be happy and jolly just because of Jesus, far from it, but you can have peace despite
your suffering.
Born Californian, raised Tennessean, Natalie Braine’s an oddball all-around. For starters, she doesn’t say “y’all”, she’s convinced her characters actually exist, and she stands on the firm belief that tomatoes are disgusting. She was adopted into God’s family when she was four years old and has been growing in the grace and knowledge of Him ever since. When she’s not chatting with her writer friends, ranting about theology, or talking with her Heavenly Father, she’s typing away furiously at her novels, blasting music that is way louder than medically acceptable, or watching and quoting movies with her big hilarious family. You can subscribe to her newsletter at nataliebraine.kit.com
