Good thoughts and bad thoughts attract things that agree with them.
Job 14:7-9
Some things were made to go together.
Like Peanut Butter and Jelly… Or maybe peanut butter and chocolate… Or maybe chocolate and… anything!
In nature, aka the human condition, we find similar things that are always side-by-side. In fact, they’re so consistently together, you can call them a universal truth.
But, before we get into the specifics, let’s work the edges by quoting a couple of popular sayings that support these truths.
First, there’s “Birds of a feather flock together.” Basically, that means that things that share common characteristics naturally gravitate towards one another. As human beings, we feel most comfortable when we’re around people like us.
Next, there’s “If you lie with dogs, you’re gonna get fleas“. This truth reveals that once we participate in a particular way of thinking or behaving, we’re going to naturally adapt our behavior and thinking to be similar to those that we’re spending time with.
And these things happen, as universal truths, without any intention of doing so.
What does all this mean?
Bottom line… in this corrupt and broken world, if you don’t guard your heart and mind, you’ll soon wake up to find the fleas are throwin’ a party with the birds… and your mind is the door prize.
And just because they’re using your head as Party Central, don’t think they’ll just pack up and go home at closing time. That’s because there is no closing time.
Which begs the question…
Where did they come from and how did I get them?
Well, the answer is basically the same for both questions.
We laid with dogs and we hung out with the wrong birds.
But in addition to that figurative, yet simple explanation, there’s some universal truths at work here also…
We let stress, anxiety, anger, resentment, and confused thinking open the door to our minds – just enough for the birds and the fleas to get inside.
Okay, so once they’re in – how do we get rid of them?
Well, normally, the answer to our vexing conundrums are delivered in the Tiny Words. Big Life. takeaway – but since birds and fleas don’t play by the rules, we’ll do things a little different today.
Here’s a hint: Jesus said it about the demon that possessed a young boy who was brought to Him for healing. After His disciples couldn’t cast it out, Jesus commanded the demon to leave the boy and never return. Then, after the demon left (very quickly), the disciples asked Jesus why they weren’t able to make it leave the boy.
He said, “This kind can only come out by prayer.”
A few days ago, the Tiny Words. Big Life. blog considered other words of Jesus as he told the parable of the sower and the seeds. He said those who hear (the word) will have more, there will be nothing hidden from them. On the other hand, those that do not hear will have all they possess taken from them.
Today’s Tiny Words. Big Life. quote is about the latter… the ultimate universal truth.
When you allow your mind to fill itself with negative thoughts, not only will negative things be attracted to you, but you will have them in abundance – just like Jesus said.
Today’s Tiny Words. Big Life. Bible verse comes from Job, as his friend Zophar accuses him of committing a sin against God that brought upon His wrath. Even though Job had lost his family and fortune, he even suggests that Job deserves far worse than he’s gotten.
Talkin’ about hangin’ out with the wrong birds…
Job’s response to his friend comes in the form of an analogy about a tree that’s been cut down. As the stump lies in the ground, growing old and apparently without life of any kind, it will “put out branches like a young plant” at the “scent of water”.
What Job is saying is basically the same thing as today’s Tiny Words. Big Life. quote.
The mind, specifically your thoughts, can bring either life or death. At one point or another, our lives will be chopped down like the tree in Job. Our lives will appear to be a stump in the wilderness, rotting from the inside out.
But it doesn’t have to be that way.
It’s your choice.
The Tiny Words. Big Life. takeaway is this: Pray to God that He remove negative thoughts that cause the stump of our spirit to wither and die. Pray to be restored mentally with good things. Read your Bible and absorb the good water of your spirit, which comes from the word of God.
And the next time you feel those birds beginning to flock and the fleas beginning to bite, arm yourself with a 12-gauge shotgun that’s loaded with the buckshot of God’s word!
And after you’ve bagged a mess of birds and fleas, go ahead and throw ’em in the garbage because not even chocolate can make those taste good.
Job 14:7-9
7 “For there is hope for a tree,
if it be cut down, that it will sprout again,
and that its shoots will not cease.
8 Though its root grow old in the earth,
and its stump die in the soil,
9 yet at the scent of water it will bud
and put out branches like a young plant.