Have you ever been around life-long Christians who were so negative you wondered if they had ever read the Bible? If they have, they may have pictured themselves as another Job. If they have studied the Bible they missed Hebrews 10:38 – “The just shall live by faith.”

Faith is the basis of a spiritual life and living that spiritual life. To understand what God had intended when He put the Holy Spirit into the life of a believer was to see that person completely change from who they were to how they are to live in the future.

When you live as the world lives you are focused on yourself. If you are not narcissistic, but feel the slightest inferior and lack confidence or feel unworthy, you may have a problem on focusing on anyone but self. However, when you accept the Holy Spirit into your life you supposedly have repented on how you used to live and commit yourself to live as the Gospel teaches. That means your focus is off of self and onto Christ and being a positive witness for Him.

Are you not aware that when non-believers see you they are supposed to see Christ in you? If they don’t, isn’t it time to take inventory as to why you are negative? We all know long-time Christian that we dislike being around and hearing their endless negative problems. If you just recently met a negative Christian raving about their horrible situations that they probably created themselves, what are your thoughts and reactions? My thought is what made them so negative? Were they raised this way? With whom do they spend most of their time? How can a Christian be so negative and constantly complaining? It appears they completely ignore the Holy Spirit or if the Spirit is even in them. They are a sad testimony for Christianity.

When I accepted Christ as a young adult, I was just out of the Navy after four years, mostly overseas. It turned my life completely around. I stopped living as the world lived and focused on the way the Bible said I should live. From that day on my life has never been the same.

I found the American dream was available to those who realized that it won’t be given to them; it had to be earned. I read many books on the power of positive thinking. I studied management principles and went to numerous seminars to improve my skills. The one book that has helped me the most is studying the Bible. One thing I learned was preparation. It was the key to success. I learned the importance of trusting in God’s promises. I became aware that the Holy Spirit was given to us that we might have comfort, guidance and a purpose in life. The Bible taught me to become free from the ways of society and our worldly, self-centered nature.

When I found that preparation and trusting God was the key to success, it changed everything. I have used the illustration that professional basketball players often would shoot five hundred baskets a day, every day. My grandson is a drummer and plays before thousands every week. He had a God-given dream that someday he would be a drummer. He had never played the drums before. His talent is God-given but it didn’t just happen. He set goals, made a commitment to practice and did for many, many hours. He was willing to take risks by playing in the school band when he had little skills. Today, too many have dreams but they are unwilling to pursue them. It takes too much time and energy and they fear failure. As a result, they blame their situation on everyone or everything but themselves.

My dream, that I feel was Holy Spirit inspired, was to be a part of management. I felt led to get a college education. After two years of teaching and coaching in a Christian high school and in the summers a production foreman for Birds’ Eye Frozen Foods, I became part of Montgomery Ward’s management training program. Twenty-three of those years were as a store manager. My last store in Las Vegas employed as many as 450 at times. Over 30 years I worked with thousands of people with different temperaments and personalities. Some were positive Christian and some were very negative. It appeared you could tell who relied on the Holy Spirit and who relied on themselves. I wanted to tell negative Christians they were not good witnesses for Christ but knew better.

Recently I wrote a book: “God and the Bottom Line.” I wanted to share with people that Christians can have a tremendous advantage at work, school or in their personal relationships. I believe the Bible wants us to be well-liked, prosperous, content, full of joy and be such fantastic witnesses for Christ that others would want to become a Christian also, or at least, if one, a better Christian. I don’t believe you can read it and not become more positive. It may be obtained via Amazon.com! There is absolutely no reason for a Christian to have a continual negative attitude if they know their Bible, God’s promises and allow the Holy Spirit to be their guide.