Are you a glass half full or half empty person? Do you see things as if they are positive or negative, are you optimistic or pessimistic? How do you look at your life? Is your life a half full life or is it a life half empty?
I want to challenge you to see the glass completely differently. Have a look at the picture at the top of the page. What do you see? I want to challenge you to see the glass as full. Not half of any thing but full. The glass is full. Bottom half is liquid and the top half is air. It is full. Now stay with me, don’t go away! I will explain.
When we look at the glass we look with our knowledge, what we think we know. Turn it around to our lives. If your life has always seemed to throw up complications and pitfalls, your mind will tell you that this is the norm and so you tend to look at situations pessimistically. Even when your life is going swimmingly you are waiting for the problem to arise! You may have the opposite mindset and know that you have always some how got through, you may be a ‘when the going gets tough, the tough get going’ type of person. Both ways of looking at life are intrinsically wrong. Why? Because we need to start looking at life as God does and not as man does.
If you are an optimist or a pessimist both arguments are wrong because it makes you think that life is all about you. Situations always workout well for me and so I look positively at life, or conversely nothing works out for me and so what can I hope for. SPOILER ALERT!!!!! Life is not about you but about God. We are created for God, not ourselves. We are here for the sole purpose of bringing Glory to Him. We need to start allowing God to change our perspective. How many of you pessimists out there have tried in vain to change your outlook on life. You have tried valiantly to learn ‘The Power of Positive Thinking’, and for a time you succeed but it doesn’t last. The reason is that you think that life is about you but it’s not. Life is about God. Your life is all about God and we need to learn how to Glorify Him in it. Paul in his letter to the Romans explains it better than I can:
“I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God” (Romans 12: 1-2 NKJV)
Our life is about God. We give ourselves to God as a “Living Sacrifice” and through this our mind will be renewed. When Paul wrote this letter he didn’t write with chapters and verses so it is important to see what he wrote before this. At the end of chapter 11 we have:
“Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgements and His ways past finding out! “For who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has become His counsellor?”“Or who has first given to Him And it shall be repaid to him?” For of Him and through Him and to Him are all things, to whom be glory forever. Amen.“ (Romans 11:33-36 NKJV)
Read them both together………. Do you see the picture? God is all Glorious and so we give our lives to Him as a living sacrifice. If we don’t conform to this world, i.e., don’t think like the world thinks but have a change in the way we think. This is the renewing of the mind. Life is not about optimism or pessimism, life is about God. God is in charge. He is our shepherd. When Paul in his letter to the Phillipians tells us to Rejoice always, he is not telling us to think positively. He wants us to know that God is in charge. How is it possible to be anxious about nothing. We are born being anxious but if we can see that we are here for God and that He is our Shepherd, then we can have peace that is beyond what you can understand.
” Rejoice in the Lord always. Again I will say, rejoice! Let your gentleness be known to all men. The Lord is at hand. Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 4:4-7 NKJV)
Paul also says:
“Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.” (1Thes 5:16-18 NKJV)
This is God:
“For since the beginning of the world Men have not heard nor perceived by the ear, Nor has the eye seen any God besides You, Who acts for the one who waits for Him.” (Isaiah 64;4 NKJV)
No matter how hard we try to understand God’s ways we can’t. His ways are not our ways. He never seems to do the same thing twice. Every miracle that Jesus did is done differently than the one before. One blind man is healed differently than the next. Jesus shows us how big God is and yet we still put Him in a box. He is too big for that. He will show us how amazing He is if we let Him. He wants to glorify Himself through us! David puts it so well in my favourite Psalm:
“He leads me in the paths of righteousness For His name’s sake” (Psalm 23:3 NKJV)
Why does He lead us? For His name’s sake!! Not for our sake but for His Glory!
I know I might be stretching the analogy but look at the glass at the top of the page again. It is a glass just waiting, resting, standing……. expectant. The glass has a purpose, it is useful no matter how much is in it. Let us all see that we are all useful to God no matter how we think our lives look. He has chosen you before the beginning of time to bring Him the Glory.
“Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you; I appointed you a prophet to the nations.” (Jer 1:5 ESV)
“just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love, having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He made us accepted in the Beloved.” (Eph 1:4-6 NKJV)
“For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope” (Jer 29:11 NKJV)
We need to see this is God’s truth. When Paul talks about the armour of God, he tells us to put on the Belt of Truth. The ‘Truth’ here is God’s Truth, what God says. The only way we can find out what God says is by getting in His word. You will be so surprised about what God says about you. I can tell you that you have ideas about yourself that are certainly not God’s.
“Stand therefore, having girded your waist with truth” (Eph 6:14 NKJV)
If you look at the first couple of Posts on this Blog you will see they are on declarations, declaring God’s word over your life. It is so important to see yourself as God sees you. Put on the belt of all that God thinks about you. You need the best information to make the best decisions! Who has the best information about you? God does! Where do you find that information? In His word! In the Psalms we find this verse:
“I rise before the dawning of the morning, And cry for help; I hope in Your word.“ (Psalm 119:147 NKJV)
Most Bible historians attribute Psalm 119 as a psalm of David although the Bible doesn’t tell us. So by the looks of this verse David was a glass half full kind of guy, an optimist. The key is the word ‘hope”! His hope is in God’s word. At least optimists have hope. They feel there is going to be something better. Hope is vital to life, but…..and yes there is a but!! There is something bigger and stronger than hope and that is FAITH!
“Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.“ (Heb 11:1 NKJV)
Faith is real, it has substance. It is not some airy fairy thing. Faith is reality. Let me give you an example… You are promised a house by an elderly relative, it is a great home but until you get the deeds of the house in your hand, you can only hope that the house is yours. When you do get the house and you can move into it, then it becomes reality. That is Faith. The reality of a hope. When we look at our lives we are often still in hope that things will turn out right whereas the reality is that if you are in God then of course it will. No doubt.
Let’s get back to our glass:
Half empty – Pessimistic, very little hope if any. If something can go wrong then it will.
Half full – Optimistic, there is always hope that things will turn out good.
Full – Faith, seeing that God is in charge so life will be abundant no matter what.
Without Faith you can’t please God:
“But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.” (Heb 11:6 NKJV)
The bottom line is, God either is who He says He is or not. There is no half way. He is either God or not. Therefore let us come to Him as God, believe what He says about us, trust that our lives are in His hands and have Faith that He loves us unconditionally. Start declaring what God says about you. There are over 7000 promises in the Bible!
Our glass is full. It is always full and not only that but our glass is full to overflowing. He pours out of us. We can’t contain Him. Rivers of living water flow out of us when we have Faith in Him.
Love this blog thank you for hearing from God and writing this. My hope that all people see themselves as a Glass overflowing with Gods love. Imagine a world full of the God’s abundance. Blessings Julie
re you a glass half full or half empty person? Do you see things as if they are positive or negative, are you optimistic or pessimistic? How do you look at your life? Is your life a half full life or is it a life half empty?
A Lamp For My Feet 
Love this blog thank you for hearing from God and writing this. My hope that all people see themselves as a Glass overflowing with Gods love. Imagine a world full of the God’s abundance. Blessings Julie
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