Why is Everyone so Negative?

05 Sep Why is Everyone so Negative?

There seems to be a trend, or a tendency in human nature to expect, desire or just more easily believe negative things.  This is true of our own lives.  For example, if a doctor tells a patient they have cancer and six months to live, they will automatically believe him, even if it is April the 1st.   But if you tell someone they have just won a fortune, they will often question, ‘Really?’

The same is true when we think of society.  Its the bad things that make the news and spread, and the potential for bad is always in the minds and hearts of people.  Think of the never-ending alarm of climate change, ozone layer, the ecology and its various permutations going back forever.  Or think of the constant talking about when WW3 will start.  It’s a societal thing.

And the same exists in the Church too.  The idea that the world is getting worse and worse and Jesus must come back soon is hard to shake, even though it isn’t what the scriptures teach.  The story of salvation history is one in which the devil is defeated, first at Calvary, and then in history as the outworking of it.  We are not waiting for the evil to reach its zenith so that Christ can return, NO, we are witnessing the greatest growth of the kingdom of God that the world has ever seen.

In short, Jesus is not coming back to rescue us from the devil.  He has already rescued us from sin and the devil.  The Bible teaches many things about why we are actually here.  Here are a few:

The Kingdom must grow and fill the earth.  ‘And of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end.’  Isaiah 9:7.  The same idea is echoed in Nebuchadnezzar’s dream of the rock that filled the earth, (Daniel 2) and in Christ’s parables about the kingdom growing and becoming the biggest thing in the world.  (Matt 13:31-32)

The Lord cares about people and wants them to hear the gospel, and be saved.  ‘Go into all the world and preach the gospel.’ Matt 28:18-20.  The reason he wants us to preach, and has not returned yet is that ‘he is patient wishing that nobody would perish.’   2 Peter 3:9.  His goal is that the ‘Earth  will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of God.’  Habakkuk 2:14.

There are times coming in this world when people won’t have to preach anymore because ‘everyone will know the Lord.’  Jeremiah 31:34/Hebrews 8:11.  But even so, the Lord wants his people to become mature.  He won’t return until ‘the Bride has made herself ready.’  Revelation 19:7.  And to help the church get ready, the Lord has appointed ‘apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers,’  Ephesians 4:11.  The stated purpose of these ministries is ‘equip God’s people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith, and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.’  Ephesians 4:12-13. 

It seems that the Lord wants his  Church to overcome, to grow, to mature, to be like Him, and to evangelise the world.  He doesn’t want anyone to perish.  After we are mature and the Bride is ready, at some point He will return.

So why are God’s people so negative?  Is it because we don’t understand how wonderful the Lord is and how big his plans are?  Is it because we so easily fall into human nature believing the worst.  Probably.  It’s time to get our eyes onto Him.