A Positive Charge

Posted On January 17, 2021

“Let everything you say be good and helpful, so that your words will be an encouragement to those who hear them.”

Ephesians 4:29 NLT

In science class we learn that an atom is the basic building block of matter. It is the smallest unit of an element that still retains the properties of that element. So if we had an atom of gold, for example, and it somehow fell apart, we’d no longer have gold. We would just have the little bits that the atom was made of. It’s these little bits I want to talk about for a minute. All atoms are made up of protons, neutrons, and electrons. The protons have a positive electrical charge, the neutrons have no charge, and the electrons have a negative charge. The number of protons and electrons in an atom is always the same, so that overall, the atom is electrically neutral. It’s the number of protons that determines which element we have. For example, hydrogen has 1 proton, helium has 2 protons, and so on. The protons and neutrons make up the center part, called the nucleus, of an atom. The electrons fly around in crazy orbits, moving so fast that they are more like clouds of negative charge surrounding the positively-charged nucleus. Everything in the universe is made up of atoms, including us. If they don’t hold together, everything falls apart.

I was reminded of the structure of atoms when I was thinking about the role we as Christians are called to play in this fallen world. Through the good news of Christ and the power of the Holy Spirit, we become positively charged. We are the protons. We are given forgiveness, hope, strength, joy, love, and many other wonderful gifts. Through fellowship and encouragement of other believers, we stay bound together in a nucleus of positive energy. But it seems like we are constantly surrounded by clouds of negativity in the world. Fear, doubt, worry, anger, unkindness, unfairness, hate, . . . it all swirls around us, threatening to take away our positivity. But we can’t let it. If we lose our positive charge, we lose our identity. We are no longer protons. We become neutrons, unable to counteract the negative charge of the electrons. Or worse yet, we become electrons ourselves, contributing to the negativity. We cannot let this happen. If we do, everything falls apart.

God wants us to stay positive. He knows this world is full of evil and heartbreak, but still He commands us to rejoice always, give thanks in all circumstances, and love others the way Christ loves us. These are not just suggestions for a happier life. They are commands God expects us to follow. Not doing so can have serious consequences for His kingdom. John Ortberg explains:

“The misunderstanding of true spirituality has caused immense damage to the human race. Tragically, it is possible to think we are becoming more spiritual when in fact we are only becoming more smug and judgmental. . . . Getting clear on what spiritual life looks like is no casual affair. This is life or death to the soul. Sheldon Vanauken wrote that the strongest argument for Christianity is Christians, when they are drawing life from God. The strongest argument against Christianity? Also Christians, when they become exclusive, self-righteous, and complacent. . . . Lee Strobel, my colleague at Willow Creek Community Church, is fond of quoting the reply Homer Simpson’s fundamentalist neighbor gave when Homer asked them where they’d been: ‘We went away to a Christian camp. We were learning how to be more judgmental.’ Where is that camp, and why is it so well attended?”

John Ortberg

“Now this is what the Lord Almighty says:
‘Give careful thought to your ways.'”

Haggai 1:5 NIV

“The strongest argument against Christianity? Also Christians . . . .” I don’t know about you, but reading those words brought home to me what’s at stake here. When we are positive, we attract others to Christ. When we are neutral, we may not. But when we are negative, we actually drive them away. Everyone knows this world is full of evil. Those searching for an escape from it may look to the church, as we hope they would. But what will they find there? What will they conclude about Christ by looking at those who claim to follow Him? Will they be drawn to what they see or repelled by it? These are sobering thoughts. God calls me to lead others to Christ, but I can’t do that if I don’t let Christ’s light shine through me. This means responding the way Jesus would in my place. What would Jesus do if someone cut Him off in traffic, spoke rudely to Him in a supermarket, or insulted His views on social media? Would He retaliate? Would He roll His eyes and blow them off as not being worth His time? Would He smugly try to straighten them out because they obviously need to be informed of His superior wisdom in all things? I think not. What would Jesus do? First and foremost, He would love them.

“I CHOOSE KINDNESS . . . I will be kind to the poor, for they are alone. Kind to the rich, for they are afraid. And kind to the unkind, for such is how God has treated me.”

Max Lucado

“I CHOOSE JOY . . . I will invite my God to be the God of circumstance. I will refuse the temptation to be cynical . . . the tool of the lazy thinker. I will refuse to see people as anything less than human beings, created by God. I will refuse to see any problem as anything less than an opportunity to see God.”

Max Lucado

So how do I learn to act like Jesus? Well, for one thing I need to get to know Him better every day. I need to spend time in His Word. I need to spend time in talking to Him in prayer and listening for His voice. And I need to find my joy in Him. Have you ever met an optimistic person? I mean really, annoyingly optimistic? These kinds of people can find the bright side of any situation. Lost your job? Well, I’m sure there’s a better one out there just waiting for you. Battling an illness? Well, be thankful it wasn’t as bad as it could have been. Nervous about something you have to do? Well, I’m sure you’ll do fine. You always do. Annoying? Maybe sometimes. But this is exactly the type of person we should learn to emulate. It’s not easy, I know. I am very good at finding the cloud in every silver lining. But a good place to start is to find something, anything, to be grateful for in any given situation and thank God for it. Then repeat this process again the next day. Then the next, and the next, until gratitude becomes a habit. We’ll find that as we do this, we naturally become more joyful.

Paul tells us in Philippians 4:6-7 to present our requests to God with thanksgiving and then God’s peace will guard our hearts and minds. Gratitude recharges us. It hooks us up to the Source of Power and renews our positivity. The more full of positive energy we become, the more joyful we become, and the easier it is to show that positivity to the world. Jesus tells us the same thing. He tells us to remain in Him and in His love. In other words, stay connected to Him as our source of loving power, and we will find our joy:

“If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands and remain in his love. I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you.”

John 15:10-12 NIV

It all starts with our thoughts. There are a lot of things in this world we cannot control, but we can control what we choose to think about. We can control what we choose to dwell on. And we can choose where to turn when we need to be recharged. When we refocus our thoughts on God, we connect to His power, and we are filled with His goodness and love. This will naturally begin to overflow into our words and our actions, and pretty soon our little corner of the world has become a little bit brighter. We may even inspire others to do the same, and then their little corners become a little brighter. And before you know it, we have changed the world for the better.

“Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable — if anything is excellent or praiseworthy — think about such things.”

Philippians 4:8 NIV

“When joy is a habit, love is a reflex.”

Bob Goff

When my brother was very little, probably around preschool age, he was playing with a tape recorder. Based on his limited understanding of theology at the time, He recorded a long discourse about Jesus’ love. He said, “Jesus loves everybody!” and started listing all the recipients of His love: “dogs, cats, rabbits, skunks, . . ” I don’t remember all of it, but I clearly remember the way he ended his speech: “And Jesus loves everybody . . . everybody ‘cept the bad guys!”

God cares about right and wrong, but not more than He cares about us loving one another. Jesus loves everybody . . . even the bad guys! And He calls us to do the same. Because we’re all bad guys. We have all fallen short. We are all sinners in need of repentance. But Jesus loves us anyway. When we take the time to really let that sink in, it can transform us from the inside out. When we truly feel Jesus’ love for us, we begin to see ourselves and others the way Jesus does. When we let Jesus fill our hearts, His love will start spilling out to everyone we encounter.

“I CHOOSE GENTLENESS . . . Nothing is won by force. I choose to be gentle. If I raise my voice may it be only in praise. If I clench my fist, may it be only in prayer. If I make a demand, may it be only of myself.”

Max Lucado

“Count on it — there’s more joy in heaven over one sinner’s rescued life than over ninety-nine good people in no need of rescue.”

Luke 15:7 MSG

This positive charge that we’ve been given is a gift and also a responsibility: it’s a charge in a different sense of the word. God calls us to love everyone because He loves everyone. Every single one of us is a masterpiece, lovingly formed by our Creator, and He doesn’t want to lose a single soul. He wants us to help lead all our brothers and sisters home to Him. Every second of our lives should be dedicated to that charge. Everything we think, say, and do should be with that goal in mind.

According to Randy Petersen in his book Be Still My Soul: The Inspiring Stories behind 175 of the Most-Loved Hymns, Charles Wesley’s hymn “A Charge to Keep I Have” is based on Matthew Henry’s commentary on Leviticus 8:35: “We have every one of us a charge to keep, an eternal God to glorify, an immortal soul to provide for, needful duty to be done, our generation to serve; and it must be our daily care to keep this charge, for it is the charge of the Lord our Master, who will shortly call us to an account about it, and it is at our utmost peril if we neglect it.” Here are the first two verses of Wesley’s hymn:

“A Charge to Keep I Have”

A charge to keep I have,
A God to glorify,
A never dying soul to save,
And fit it for the sky.

To serve the present age,
My calling to fulfill:
O may it all my powers engage
To do my Master’s will!

Charles Wesley

We have souls to save. This is our calling. We must choose every day to connect to our positive Power Source and let Him equip us for the job. Anytime I’m tempted to skip my daily Scripture readings or give in to worry instead of turning my concerns over to God, I have to remind myself that I am commanded to find my joy in Him every day. If I’m being honest, I must admit that I’ve been doing this for selfish reasons . . . because I want to feel better. I want to find happiness and peace for myself. But now that I’ve developed this habit, it’s not hard to let my reasons mature into unselfish ones. Now that I’m learning to find my joy in God every day, I can learn to share that joy with others. I can choose to be positive because I have His joy in my heart. I can choose to be optimistic because I have learned to give thanks in all circumstances. I can choose to be loving and kind to everyone because I am full of His love. And I can choose to bring peace to the world because He has brought peace to my soul.

“A modern postscript: President George W. Bush had a painting in the Oval Office titled A Charge to Keep, by W. H. D. Koerner. It showed a horseman charging up a difficult trail. Bush associated this figure with the circuit riders of the Methodist Church, who carried the gospel to new areas. ‘What adds complete life to the painting for me,’ he said, ‘is the message of Charles Wesley that we serve One greater than ourselves.'”

Randy Peterson

“I CHOOSE LOVE . . . No occasion justifies hatred; no injustice warrants bitterness. I choose love. Today I will love God and what God loves.”

Max Lucado

So what’s the bottom line? Jesus Himself sums it up for us:

“‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”

Matthew 22:37-40 NIV

Love God, and love people. It’s that simple. Of course, as Bob Goff points out, that doesn’t mean it’s easy. In fact, on our own it’s impossible. We simply don’t have the resources within ourselves to love the way Jesus did. That’s why it’s crucial that we stay connected to the One who does.

“‘Love one another.’ What is simple often isn’t easy; what is easy often doesn’t last. . . . Each of us is surrounded every day by our neighbors. They’re ahead of us, behind us, on each side of us. They’re every place we go. They’re sacking groceries and attending city council meetings. They’re holding cardboard signs on street corners and raking leaves next door. They play high school football and deliver the mail. They’re heroes and hookers and pastors and pilots. They live on the streets and design our bridges. They go to seminaries and live in prisons. They govern us and they bother us. They’re everywhere we look. It’s one thing we all have in common: we’re all somebody’s neighbor, and they’re ours. This has been God’s simple yet brilliant master plan from the beginning. He made a whole world of neighbors. We call it earth, but God just calls it a really big neighborhood. What often keeps us from loving our neighbors is fear of what will happen if we do. Frankly, what scares me more is thinking about what will happen if we don’t.”

Bob Goff

It scares me, too. Let’s make loving God and loving others a priority in everything we think, say, and do. After all, that’s what Jesus did.

“Nails didn’t hold God to a cross. Love did.”

Max Lucado

This week’s Scripture passages focus on light, love, and joy. There is a printer-friendly pdf version below the image. May they help us stay connected to our Source of Power and be recharged. May they remind us to be a positive influence in the world. May they empower us to share the love of Christ. And may they help us to remember the reason we do this: “God didn’t go to all the trouble of sending his Son merely to point an accusing finger, telling the world how bad it was. He came to help, to put the world right again” (John 3:17 MSG).

“Always be joyful. Never stop praying. Be thankful in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you who belong to Christ Jesus.”

1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 NLT

References:

• Goff, Bob. Everybody Always: Becoming Love in a World Full of Setbacks and Difficult People. Nelson Books, 2018.
• Lucado, Max. Grace for the Moment: Inspirational Thoughts for Each Day of the Year. J. Countryman, 2000.
• Ortberg, John. The Life You’ve Always Wanted: Spiritual Disciplines for Ordinary People. Zondervan, 2002.
• Petersen, Randy. Be Still My Soul: The Inspiring Stories behind 175 of the Most-Loved Hymns. Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., 2014.

Images:

• Atom featured image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay (edited by me)
• Atom Showing Protons and Electrons image by burlesonmatthew from Pixabay
• Blackboard Background image by Thanks for your Like • donations welcome from Pixabay
• Words Have Power image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay
• Blackboard Emojis image by athree23 from Pixabay
• Love Wins Tic-Tac-Toe image by Kranich17 from Pixabay
• Make the World a Better Place image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay
• Pink Heart image by leticiaalvares10 from Pixabay
• Heart Cross image by Gordon Johnson from Pixabay
• Be Positive image by me (with Blackboard Background image by Thanks for your Like • donations welcome from Pixabay)