One might ask if positive thinking is Christ-like. I would say that following the example of Jesus in our living leads to a positive lifestyle, one that is upright and yields a favorable outcome. I would be remiss though to say that positive thinking will get you to heaven — that glory belongs to Jesus, not the mind.
We are living in the age of the wonders of the mind: freeing your mind, banishing negative thoughts and envisioning where you want to be in life. This is the age of positive thinking, where you can create your own utopia by resetting your thought process and accessing your true potential. The mind is becoming a god and the Lord, a second thought.
God created the human mind and it is a glorious creation that humanity is still trying to figure out. Throughout history, many scholars, men and women alike, have come to conclusions that thinking in a certain way determines life’s outcomes. I can tell you from personal experience, there are some trials and tribulations no amount of positive thinking could get me through — but God did.
“But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away.” (Isaiah 64:6)
In our current human state, even when we are at our “best,” the Bible says it is the equivalent to “filthy rags.” Well ,what does this have to do with positive thinking? If we are operating off the notion that living our best life means thinking positive, envisioning prosperous outcomes and catching negative thoughts, yet we’re still “filthy,” then what is positive thinking getting us?
To the non-believer, the Bible can be dismissed and would probably argue that God expects too much. Some believers ascribe to positive thinking and other doctrines because they feel God’s way isn’t working for them, so they need something extra.
“And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith.” (Philippians 3:9)
Positive thinking, working and living from a place where we’re relying on our own idea of being upright, our morals and values isn’t enough — it’s our faith in the Lord and His promises. It’s said that if we follow the Lord, we should not perish (John 3:16), we can accomplish anything through Him (Philippians 4:13) and that we can move mountains if we have a little faith (Matthew 17:20).
I would say positive thinking is more a result of faith in Jesus that only comes as a result of believing on Him. It doesn’t precede the Lord, it comes after in great abundance because scripture gives story-after-story of what waiting on the Lord brings in the believer’s life.
“For who has known the mind of the Lord that he may instruct Him? But we have the mind of Christ.” (1 Corinthians 2:16)
