Prosperity speakers say that there is merit to the Law of Attraction, which, loosely put, says you attract into your life whatever you think about. While I’ve heard some applications of this that fell right out of the looney bin, I’ve heard others that slipped directly from the pages of the Good Book, the God Book. Those, I tend to believe. Scripture points out that our perspective has a lot to do with our reality. “To the pure all things are pure,” states Titus. To the defiled and corrupt, the opposite is true, he adds. In fact, perspective is the very core of the spiritual life: faith. “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen,” Hebrews 11:1 declares, and nestled in the middle of a Proverbs sandwich is the truth that whatever a man thinks in his heart, indeed that’s what he is. Faith, similar to the Law of Attraction, brings to itself the object of its focus. If I believe negativity, I receive the negative. But if I look for God in a situation, I invite HIM into it. The same is true of love.
Paul, in his letter to the Corinthians, bared his heart, sharing with them the extent of his love for them, his willingness to suffer and endure extreme hardship so that they could enjoy the freedom found in Jesus. But, the Corinthians didn’t return the affection. “Ye are not straitened in us, but ye are straitened in your own bowels,” he wrote. For some reason, the love balance had been broken, and its scale tipped off-kilter. Without love in their hearts, they couldn’t receive Paul’s love. The next few verses give insight. Instead of unity of faith and a vision fixed on God, the Corinthians had been lured by the world. “Unequally yoked” Paul called it. Affection for the wrong things took the place of their love for God, and without loving His head, it was impossible to love His body.
The same is true for us. When our affections drift from spiritual things to earthly ones, our perspective shifts. And visa versa. When our perspective changes, so do our affections. Our faith, like the Law of Attraction, begins to draw to itself the things, people, and ideas of the world. Our passion for the holy dwindles. And in the absence of spiritual zeal, we more easily pursue the carnal. We yoke ourselves to it. We lose our first love.
Sadly, our inability to love and our ability to receive it are linked. When our affections shift, we are like children stuffing ourselves on junk food before dinner. We lack appetite for what is best. With our altered perspective, we sever ourselves from the love that’s being extended to us. Without its infilling, we have no overflow. We are rendered incapable of loving man whom we can see with our eyes and God whom we see by faith.
Renewal of faith, however, sets things to right. If we again turn our focus to the Lord, we find that He quickly responds to us. “Draw nigh unto the Lord, and he will draw nigh unto you,” James explains. Since He’s been loving us all along, He’s happy when we receive the gift. God pours the love He has for us into our emptiness again. Loved, we love. Then, our perspective of faith continues to attract the power of His truths into our lives. We believe; therefore, we receive. More love. Real Identity. Continued Hope. Eternal prosperity. And every other good thing the Law of the God Book says we can have.
Tip/Tidbit: Are you feeling unloved or incapable of loving others? Tank up on the God who is Love and see growth in your capacity to give and receive love.
Paul, in his letter to the Corinthians, bared his heart, sharing with them the extent of his love for them, his willingness to suffer and endure extreme hardship so that they could enjoy the freedom found in Jesus. But, the Corinthians didn’t return the affection. “Ye are not straitened in us, but ye are straitened in your own bowels,” he wrote. For some reason, the love balance had been broken, and its scale tipped off-kilter. Without love in their hearts, they couldn’t receive Paul’s love. The next few verses give insight. Instead of unity of faith and a vision fixed on God, the Corinthians had been lured by the world. “Unequally yoked” Paul called it. Affection for the wrong things took the place of their love for God, and without loving His head, it was impossible to love His body.
The same is true for us. When our affections drift from spiritual things to earthly ones, our perspective shifts. And visa versa. When our perspective changes, so do our affections. Our faith, like the Law of Attraction, begins to draw to itself the things, people, and ideas of the world. Our passion for the holy dwindles. And in the absence of spiritual zeal, we more easily pursue the carnal. We yoke ourselves to it. We lose our first love.
Sadly, our inability to love and our ability to receive it are linked. When our affections shift, we are like children stuffing ourselves on junk food before dinner. We lack appetite for what is best. With our altered perspective, we sever ourselves from the love that’s being extended to us. Without its infilling, we have no overflow. We are rendered incapable of loving man whom we can see with our eyes and God whom we see by faith.
Renewal of faith, however, sets things to right. If we again turn our focus to the Lord, we find that He quickly responds to us. “Draw nigh unto the Lord, and he will draw nigh unto you,” James explains. Since He’s been loving us all along, He’s happy when we receive the gift. God pours the love He has for us into our emptiness again. Loved, we love. Then, our perspective of faith continues to attract the power of His truths into our lives. We believe; therefore, we receive. More love. Real Identity. Continued Hope. Eternal prosperity. And every other good thing the Law of the God Book says we can have.
Tip/Tidbit: Are you feeling unloved or incapable of loving others? Tank up on the God who is Love and see growth in your capacity to give and receive love.
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