How to Steer Your Life Back on Course
So many Christians are mired in pessimism that for their own good, they need to recognize it, repent, and return to the love walk before negativity destroys their lives. Sometimes to get back into the flow of God’s love we must be jolted into it by a word of correction. This happened to me in my own love revolution. Jesus often startled His hearers with a word of rebuke or by reframing a question such as, “Where is your faith?” (Luke 8:25).
Staying in the love walk involves receiving life-giving correction lest we drift away without realizing it. I am reminded of the Korean Airlines flight on September 1, 1983, that flew from New York City to Anchorage, Alaska, and the second leg of the flight from Anchorage to Seoul, South Korea. It went off course and ended up in Soviet (Russian) airspace. The aircraft was shot down, and all 269 passengers on board lost their lives. Why did it go off course in the first place? The pilot failed to engage the autopilot, allowing it to depart from its intended course. At first, the variation was small, but over time, it grew so large that the airplane was shot down by a Soviet fighter jet. A small amount of correction early on could have saved the plane from being miles away from where it intended to be.
Love will correct us, but love will never punish us. Proverbs 3:11–12 says, “My son, do not despise the chastening of the Lord, nor detest His correction; for whom the Lord loves He corrects.” The writer of Hebrews considered this such an important principle that he quoted it in his own letter (Heb. 12:5–6).
Most Christians I have worked with do not take correction well at all. They whine, murmur, and complain. I hear this blame-shifting daily in my practice when meeting with Christian patients of all different kinds. Instead of welcoming suggestions to correct their courses, they find or create another culprit—anything to exonerate themselves. It should come as no surprise that those who resist correction are those who drift furthest from the love walk. They are unwilling to receive the life-giving rebukes of the Lord.
Take a moment to ask yourself, “Do I recognize my own attitudes and behavior in the descriptions of pessimists above? Do I expect the worst, catastrophize difficult events, default to a hopeless attitude, blame myself, take failure personally, and expect most things to go wrong?” If so, you need to repent and get back onto the love walk. God has something much better for you, and it begins by rediscovering hope.
Nobody is ever “too far gone” or too negative to return to the path of life. Seligman, an expert in this field of study, wrote, “The good news is that pessimists can learn the skills of optimism and permanently improve the quality of their lives.”
To learn more about Don Colbert, MD’s latest book, Dr. Colbert’s Spiritual Health Zone, visit Mycharismashop.com