"You Need to Be Positive!"

I was on the phone with another minister today who had called to see how I was doing. I told him that everything had come out great with the heart cath, but that I was really having a lot of pain in the groin area where they made the puncture to do the angiogram. He told me (very seriously) "You need to be more positive! Don't acknowledge that pain! If you would learn to stop thinking negatively, and turn your thoughts around to positive thoughts you would not have all these problems!"
I said, "Dude, I am positive I am in pain!"

Hey, I believe in being a positive person. In fact, I can't stand hanging around people are negative all the time. I believe there is a lot to the idea of thinking positive, not dwelling on the negative, but I do not think that means we go into denial about the realities of life.
I am positive that the Lord healed me last week.
I am positive about where God is taking me and my church.
But I also know that I hurt right now.
Somehow, I think there is a misunderstanding in the minds of some people when it comes to positive confession. I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that I am a child of the King, but you know what: Kings kids are also told we will face trials and tribulations. We are told we will be persecuted for his name's sake.

Be a positive person? Oh yeah. No doubt about it.
But here's the reality that we all must face:
We are all going to die one day.
I don't care how much you think positive, how much you rebuke death, how healthy you are in this life... one day, your time will come.
And I am positive about that!