Have A Joyful Christmas
Have A Joyful Christmas
December is upon us, and the Christmas season is already in full swing. The frantic race to the twenty-fifth has begun—let the good times roll. If we’re honest, Christmas brings a mixture of emotions. Some are positive, others not so much. Getting together with family is great; the gifts are wonderful and the food is good. While there is much to enjoy at Christmastime, the stress, loneliness, and financial strain of the season leaves many individuals feeling less than jolly. For millions of Americans, Christmas is the most wonderful time of the year. But this isn’t the case for a great number of people.
For some, the holiday season is actually one of the most difficult times of the year. The seasonal increase of stress, sorrow, and solitude, combined with the economic pressure of the holidays, prevent many people from enjoying what is touted as “the most wonderful time of the year.” No matter how hard we may work to keep Christ at the center of the season, the stresses of Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year’s Day seem to always creep in and create a sense of distraction, discouragement, or even despair in the minds of some. Christmas should be all about Jesus, but it is easy to get our minds off what is most important and allow our minds to turn forlorn. With Christmas weeks away, what is filling your mind? The joy of Christ? Or the cultural pressures of the season?
Negative thinking always has a detrimental impact on us, and this can be exacerbated during the Christmas season. As followers of Christ, we are not called to express joy only during the holidays; it should be expressed year-round. One of the keys to maintaining an attitude of joy is to forsake our negative thoughts. The question is, how can we be consistently joyful when life is often difficult? In ebbs and flows of daily living, how can we consistently keep our negative thoughts at bay? How can we keep our minds on Christ this Christmas season and maintain our joy?
Thinking negatively is always a temptation, but this time of the year always makes it more difficult to keep our minds out of the negativity ditch. Prepare your mind now so you can enjoy the time of year when we celebrate the birth of Christ. No matter your personal situation, if Jesus is your Savior, there are many reasons to be joyful. The most effective way to keep our thoughts from derailing this Christmas season is to F.O.R.S.A.K.E. our negative thoughts.
F.O.R.S.A.K.E. Your Negative Thoughts
1. Forgive those who have sinned against you (Colossians 3:13 “Forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive”).
Musing over the inevitable slights, insults, and injuries of life typically leads to spiritual struggles. Because sinning against one another is so common, the Bible speaks frequently about forgiveness. While forgiving those who sin against us is never easy, it is necessary if we want to keep our minds out of the negativity ditch. Anger, bitterness, and resentment quickly develop in an unforgiving heart, guaranteeing spiritual complications. Dwelling on past offenses and interpersonal conflicts opens our minds to negative thoughts, which quickly deteriorate into injurious emotions and destructive actions. Choosing to focus on those who have hurt us leads to hateful thoughts such as jealousy and retaliation. Forsaking negative thoughts requires forgiveness of those who have sinned against us.
2. Obey God’s commandments rather than ruminating over imperfections, failures, or past hurts (Philippians 3:13 “One thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead…”).
Ruminating over matters we can’t change or control inevitably produces negative thoughts. Focusing on our inadequacies and failures prevents us from seeing the giftedness and blessings God has given us, making it difficult to find joy. Likewise, replaying past painful events over and over in our minds robs us of joy, trapping us in emotional and spiritual bondage. Rather than wasting time and energy in unproductive rumination, we must focus on obedience to God’s commandments. Obedience brings blessing and frees us to think clearly and biblically. When negative thoughts arise, consider how your negativity can be turned into obedience. Forsaking negative thoughts requires eliminating unhealthy rumination and obedience to the Lord.
3. Repent of any sin and seek God’s forgiveness (1 John 1:9 “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness”).
Persisting in unrepentant sin squelches our joy and stunts our spiritual growth. Knowing we are in sin—either public or private—weighs on us, and typically produces negative thoughts. In the heart where sin reigns, joy is difficult to find. Fear of being exposed, guilt, and shame haunt our minds when we are living in the bondage of sin. Sin may be pleasant for a time, but it always brings consequences. Running from God and refusing to repent of our sin guarantees a lack of joy. Thankfully, God is always ready to forgive a repentant sinner. Rather than seeking the unfulfilling pleasures of sin, confess your sin and turn to the only source of lasting joy. Forsaking negative thoughts requires confession of sin, repentance, confession, and God’s forgiveness.
4. Saturate your mind with the truths of Scripture (Psalm 119:11 “I have stored up your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you”).
Dwelling on what God forbids, our challenging circumstances, our shortcomings, or Satan’s lies produces anxiety, depression, and potentially despair. Something or someone is always vying for our attention; this is why guarding our minds is so important. What we choose to fill our minds with will greatly influence the trajectory of our thoughts, which will eventually set the course for our lives. When we are preoccupied with the cares of this world, the priorities of the culture, or the illicit pleasures of our day, negative thoughts abound and God’s truth is abandoned. To maintain an attitude of joy, Scripture must saturate our minds. Meditating on God’s word keeps our thoughts on what is honoring and pleasing to him. God’s word is the antidote for ungodly thinking. A steady diet of Scripture is essential for keeping our thoughts pure. Forsaking negative thoughts require purposeful concentration on biblical truth.
5. Accept reality and rest in God’s strength (John 16:33 “In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world”).
Fretting over the problems and imperfections of this world is another way to invite anxiety, depression, and despair into your life. In a fallen world populated with sinners, disappointment, failure, pain, and problems are to be expected. Each day we can expect to sin against someone, someone to sin against us, and a setback, challenge, trial or tragedy to come our way. In this world, we should expect trouble. Blind optimism creates crippling disappointment, setting us up for deep-seated sorrow. Jaded pessimism produces destructive cynicism, ensuring that our joy will evaporate. Seeing the world from a biblical perspective protects us from these two unhealthy mindsets and prepares us to see the world as it actually is—a fallen place where sinners dwell and where God is carrying out his sovereign redemptive plan. We will inevitably face failure, disappointment, and heartache, but this is no reason to despair. Forsaking negative thoughts requires a realistic view of the world that rests in God’s omnipotence.
6. Keep busy with something positive, productive, and wholesome (Proverbs 31:27 “She looks well to the ways of her household and does not eat the bread of idleness”).
Occupying our minds and hands with something spiritually, emotionally, and physically beneficial goes an incredibly long way in combating negative thinking. It is difficult to think negatively when we are actively engaged in something we enjoy and which glorifies God. We live in a distracting world where interruptions and disruptions occur practically every hour of the day. Some of these distractions can’t be avoided, but many can. Rather than filling our minds with social media, mindless entertainment, and other potentially destructive time-wasters, we must invest our time and energy into something constructive. Whenever our thinking turns toward negativity or something that dishonors God, we should redirect our minds to something positive. Rather than wasting time and energy fretting over something spiritually destructive, invest that time and energy into something enjoyable and productive. Forsaking negative thoughts requires intentional engagement in that which is physically, spiritually, and emotionally edifying.
7. Evaluate your expectations (Proverbs 4:23 “Keep your heart with all vigilance, for from it flow the springs of life”).
Adhering to unrealistic expectations is a surefire way to guarantee disappointment, frustration, anger, and distress. Given the fact that all of us are deeply flawed and the world is woefully imperfect, we must work hard to keep our expectations in check. Expecting excellence is good; expecting perfection, however, is not. A substantial portion of our negative thinking stems from unmet or unrealized expectations. Placing unreasonable expectations on people sets us up for disappointment, irritation, anger, resentment, and even despair. Expecting this imperfect world to satisfy our every desire and provide lasting satisfaction sets us up for emotional and spiritual consternation. The world does not owe us anything; stop living as if it does. Likewise, expecting the people in our lives to meet our every need and fulfill our every desire is a fool’s errand. No one, no matter how gifted or godly, will ever be able to satisfy us. Trusting in Jesus is the only way to find contentment in this world. Forsaking negative thoughts requires keeping our expectations reasonable and biblical.
While there are no easy fixes to solving our tendency toward negative thinking, these seven practices can help keep our minds on what pleases God and on what can bring joy to our lives. Alleviating our tendency to dwell on destructive thoughts will free our minds to think on that which encourages obedience to God. With our minds fixed on the goodness of God, we will find contentment and joy in this fallen world. Harboring negative thoughts keeps us from enjoying the wonderful life God has given us; therefore, we must forsake them. Controlling our thoughts at Christmastime is an important part of celebrating Jesus’s birth. But remember, it is equally important to manage our thoughts throughout the rest of the year too.
Copyright © 2024 by Jay Knolls. All Rights Reserved.
For some, the holiday season is actually one of the most difficult times of the year. The seasonal increase of stress, sorrow, and solitude, combined with the economic pressure of the holidays, prevent many people from enjoying what is touted as “the most wonderful time of the year.” No matter how hard we may work to keep Christ at the center of the season, the stresses of Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year’s Day seem to always creep in and create a sense of distraction, discouragement, or even despair in the minds of some. Christmas should be all about Jesus, but it is easy to get our minds off what is most important and allow our minds to turn forlorn. With Christmas weeks away, what is filling your mind? The joy of Christ? Or the cultural pressures of the season?
Negative thinking always has a detrimental impact on us, and this can be exacerbated during the Christmas season. As followers of Christ, we are not called to express joy only during the holidays; it should be expressed year-round. One of the keys to maintaining an attitude of joy is to forsake our negative thoughts. The question is, how can we be consistently joyful when life is often difficult? In ebbs and flows of daily living, how can we consistently keep our negative thoughts at bay? How can we keep our minds on Christ this Christmas season and maintain our joy?
Thinking negatively is always a temptation, but this time of the year always makes it more difficult to keep our minds out of the negativity ditch. Prepare your mind now so you can enjoy the time of year when we celebrate the birth of Christ. No matter your personal situation, if Jesus is your Savior, there are many reasons to be joyful. The most effective way to keep our thoughts from derailing this Christmas season is to F.O.R.S.A.K.E. our negative thoughts.
F.O.R.S.A.K.E. Your Negative Thoughts
1. Forgive those who have sinned against you (Colossians 3:13 “Forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive”).
Musing over the inevitable slights, insults, and injuries of life typically leads to spiritual struggles. Because sinning against one another is so common, the Bible speaks frequently about forgiveness. While forgiving those who sin against us is never easy, it is necessary if we want to keep our minds out of the negativity ditch. Anger, bitterness, and resentment quickly develop in an unforgiving heart, guaranteeing spiritual complications. Dwelling on past offenses and interpersonal conflicts opens our minds to negative thoughts, which quickly deteriorate into injurious emotions and destructive actions. Choosing to focus on those who have hurt us leads to hateful thoughts such as jealousy and retaliation. Forsaking negative thoughts requires forgiveness of those who have sinned against us.
2. Obey God’s commandments rather than ruminating over imperfections, failures, or past hurts (Philippians 3:13 “One thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead…”).
Ruminating over matters we can’t change or control inevitably produces negative thoughts. Focusing on our inadequacies and failures prevents us from seeing the giftedness and blessings God has given us, making it difficult to find joy. Likewise, replaying past painful events over and over in our minds robs us of joy, trapping us in emotional and spiritual bondage. Rather than wasting time and energy in unproductive rumination, we must focus on obedience to God’s commandments. Obedience brings blessing and frees us to think clearly and biblically. When negative thoughts arise, consider how your negativity can be turned into obedience. Forsaking negative thoughts requires eliminating unhealthy rumination and obedience to the Lord.
3. Repent of any sin and seek God’s forgiveness (1 John 1:9 “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness”).
Persisting in unrepentant sin squelches our joy and stunts our spiritual growth. Knowing we are in sin—either public or private—weighs on us, and typically produces negative thoughts. In the heart where sin reigns, joy is difficult to find. Fear of being exposed, guilt, and shame haunt our minds when we are living in the bondage of sin. Sin may be pleasant for a time, but it always brings consequences. Running from God and refusing to repent of our sin guarantees a lack of joy. Thankfully, God is always ready to forgive a repentant sinner. Rather than seeking the unfulfilling pleasures of sin, confess your sin and turn to the only source of lasting joy. Forsaking negative thoughts requires confession of sin, repentance, confession, and God’s forgiveness.
4. Saturate your mind with the truths of Scripture (Psalm 119:11 “I have stored up your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you”).
Dwelling on what God forbids, our challenging circumstances, our shortcomings, or Satan’s lies produces anxiety, depression, and potentially despair. Something or someone is always vying for our attention; this is why guarding our minds is so important. What we choose to fill our minds with will greatly influence the trajectory of our thoughts, which will eventually set the course for our lives. When we are preoccupied with the cares of this world, the priorities of the culture, or the illicit pleasures of our day, negative thoughts abound and God’s truth is abandoned. To maintain an attitude of joy, Scripture must saturate our minds. Meditating on God’s word keeps our thoughts on what is honoring and pleasing to him. God’s word is the antidote for ungodly thinking. A steady diet of Scripture is essential for keeping our thoughts pure. Forsaking negative thoughts require purposeful concentration on biblical truth.
5. Accept reality and rest in God’s strength (John 16:33 “In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world”).
Fretting over the problems and imperfections of this world is another way to invite anxiety, depression, and despair into your life. In a fallen world populated with sinners, disappointment, failure, pain, and problems are to be expected. Each day we can expect to sin against someone, someone to sin against us, and a setback, challenge, trial or tragedy to come our way. In this world, we should expect trouble. Blind optimism creates crippling disappointment, setting us up for deep-seated sorrow. Jaded pessimism produces destructive cynicism, ensuring that our joy will evaporate. Seeing the world from a biblical perspective protects us from these two unhealthy mindsets and prepares us to see the world as it actually is—a fallen place where sinners dwell and where God is carrying out his sovereign redemptive plan. We will inevitably face failure, disappointment, and heartache, but this is no reason to despair. Forsaking negative thoughts requires a realistic view of the world that rests in God’s omnipotence.
6. Keep busy with something positive, productive, and wholesome (Proverbs 31:27 “She looks well to the ways of her household and does not eat the bread of idleness”).
Occupying our minds and hands with something spiritually, emotionally, and physically beneficial goes an incredibly long way in combating negative thinking. It is difficult to think negatively when we are actively engaged in something we enjoy and which glorifies God. We live in a distracting world where interruptions and disruptions occur practically every hour of the day. Some of these distractions can’t be avoided, but many can. Rather than filling our minds with social media, mindless entertainment, and other potentially destructive time-wasters, we must invest our time and energy into something constructive. Whenever our thinking turns toward negativity or something that dishonors God, we should redirect our minds to something positive. Rather than wasting time and energy fretting over something spiritually destructive, invest that time and energy into something enjoyable and productive. Forsaking negative thoughts requires intentional engagement in that which is physically, spiritually, and emotionally edifying.
7. Evaluate your expectations (Proverbs 4:23 “Keep your heart with all vigilance, for from it flow the springs of life”).
Adhering to unrealistic expectations is a surefire way to guarantee disappointment, frustration, anger, and distress. Given the fact that all of us are deeply flawed and the world is woefully imperfect, we must work hard to keep our expectations in check. Expecting excellence is good; expecting perfection, however, is not. A substantial portion of our negative thinking stems from unmet or unrealized expectations. Placing unreasonable expectations on people sets us up for disappointment, irritation, anger, resentment, and even despair. Expecting this imperfect world to satisfy our every desire and provide lasting satisfaction sets us up for emotional and spiritual consternation. The world does not owe us anything; stop living as if it does. Likewise, expecting the people in our lives to meet our every need and fulfill our every desire is a fool’s errand. No one, no matter how gifted or godly, will ever be able to satisfy us. Trusting in Jesus is the only way to find contentment in this world. Forsaking negative thoughts requires keeping our expectations reasonable and biblical.
While there are no easy fixes to solving our tendency toward negative thinking, these seven practices can help keep our minds on what pleases God and on what can bring joy to our lives. Alleviating our tendency to dwell on destructive thoughts will free our minds to think on that which encourages obedience to God. With our minds fixed on the goodness of God, we will find contentment and joy in this fallen world. Harboring negative thoughts keeps us from enjoying the wonderful life God has given us; therefore, we must forsake them. Controlling our thoughts at Christmastime is an important part of celebrating Jesus’s birth. But remember, it is equally important to manage our thoughts throughout the rest of the year too.
Copyright © 2024 by Jay Knolls. All Rights Reserved.
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