Keep The Heart

Every time I read the book of Job, I have to fight my imagination. It's too easy to make Job's friends out to be the pack of judgmental villains. But aren't they just like us?

When we hear that something has gone wrong in someone else's life, don't we start analyzing and assuming things, too?

Jumping to conclusions is hard-wired in human nature. Job's friends saw a full scale calamity and they assumed that Job had done something wicked to bring all those tragedies on himself. (Big Bossy Bildad said as much in Job 18:5.)

They were wrong.

We are also wrong when we think we know what we're seeing when we have no clue about the reality. It's better to hear all the facts before making assumptions.

That's what we would want people to do for us if we were going through a hurricane of negative events in our lives.

Job gave his pack of friends a group title: "miserable comforters." And that's what we are when we try to become judge and jury in the lives of our loved ones.

Quietly listening to really hear and understand is better than half-listening while thinking of what you're going to say as a comeback. Pause.

"I have heard many such things: Miserable comforters are ye all." (Job 16:2)

"He that answereth a matter before he heareth it, It is folly and shame unto him." (Proverbs 18:13)
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Are you a "Glory Ju**ie"? It's a title reserved for those who want others to notice them and validate their worth. It's also a dead end.

Seeking the praise of others leads to a performance-review mentality. It's people pleasing with low rewards.

No one noticed your new hairstyle.

No one said a word about your recent weight loss.

Your name wasn't mentioned in the list of people who were called out for bravos.

That's so much better for you. Less excessive praise leaves room for more humility.

Why would we seek the glory anyway? If there's anything praiseworthy about us, that glory belongs to God. He made us. We didn't make ourselves.

"Know ye that the LORD he is God: It is he that hath made us, and not we ourselves..." (Psalm 100:3)

"Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God." (1 Corinthians 10:31)

We know that marinating our minds repeatedly in negative news is horrible for our mental health. Who needs scientific studies to confirm what our souls are already screaming at us?

The great news is this: you can stop doing that to yourself. Stop today. There will be another negative event that will be played on the news in a loop for hours, days, maybe even weeks. That will be your chance to opt out of the replays.

Hearing bad news once is enough. Hear it, see it, pray for those involved, and then turn it off. Repeatedly hearing and viewing negative news reports is the shortcut to high anxiety. Be informed, but beware of becoming overwhelmed.

Reruns of negative news reports are snares designed to keep people trapped in fear.

"The law of the wise is a fountain of life, to depart from the snares of death." (Proverbs 13:14)
Proverbs for a healthy soul: https://keeptheheart.podbean.com/e/build-your-bible-habitproverbs-chapter-13/