How ironic that #ThankfulThursday collides with #NationalGrouchDay!
And isn’t it an oxymoron to say, “Happy National Grouch Day!”
We’ve got a day for everything now, don’t we?
Apparently, October 15 has indeed been designated as National Grouch Day. Here’s the scoop, according to the NationalDay.com website:
To honor the world’s favorite grouch, Oscar, from “Sesame Street,” National Grouch Day was created on October 15. This is a day to celebrate all the grouches we know — or to embrace the grouch that lives inside all of us. On this day no one can stop us from complaining, being irritable, or wallowing in misery. Because that is what grouches do! Also, this day teaches us that it’s good to spend time processing our negative emotions. On social media this a fun day with people posting jokes, memes, funny photos, and stories.
Clearly, this holiday is meant to be taken in stride and is primarily for fun. Still, it provides a good opportunity for “processing our negative emotions.”
Here’s where we can glean some insight from Oscar the Grouch — a fictional character on the PBS show, Sesame Street. Oscar lives in a trash can (and he looks like it!). Why? Because Oscar loves trash. He even sings about it in a humorous tune called “I love trash.” It’s a song about Oscar’s collection and infatuation with useless items. That’s what makes the song so funny. After all, who wants to live like that?
But that’s exactly what we can tend to do in terms of our mindset if we’re not careful! We can gravitate toward the negative.
Joyful Christian living is in large part a state of mind. Proverbs 23:7 says,
As a man thinks, so he is.
What you think about matters, because it shapes who you are as a person. Grouchy people, like the Sesame Street character Oscar, live in the trash — at least mentally speaking. They allow their thoughts to drift toward things that are useless at best and, in many cases, are sinful.
The remedy to such a negative state of mind is to “rejoice in the Lord always” (Phil. 4:4).
How do we do that? The apostle Paul goes on to tell us in Philippians 4:8:
Finally brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable — if there is any moral excellence and if there is anything praise-worthy — dwell on these things.
Believers in Christ, more than anyone else, should experience the power of positive thinking. The devil will do all he can to assault us with negative thoughts, in order to get us to doubt God’s goodness or to question the reliability of his promises. Yet we can withstand Satan’s attacks by affirming what we know to be true. Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 10:3-5,
For though we walk in the flesh, we are not waging war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds. We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ.
The power of positive thinking that Paul describes is not the kind made popular a generation ago by Norman Vincent Peale and continues to be propagated by the likes of Joel Osteen today in best-selling books such as I Declare, Your Best Life Now, Every Day a Friday, It’s Your Time, and You Can, You Will. This type of teaching appears to be positive but is actually negative. Trevin Wax writes,
Though Osteen claims he has positive sermons, I believe he is proclaiming the most negative, unmerciful message possible. Like telling a clinically depressed person to “just snap out of it!,” Osteen is giving people burdened by sin, guilt and despair more reason to despair.
In contrast to this unbiblical approach, Paul prescribes a way of thinking that is Christ-centered. What is more true, lovely, pure, commendable, excellent and praiseworthy than Christ Jesus and all the blessings we have in him? These are the kinds of thoughts that should occupy our thoughts at all times in all circumstances.
At the end of Philippians 4:8, Paul shifts to conditional clauses: “if … if.” This emphasizes our responsibility to exercise discernment in our thinking, whether we’re reading a book, watching a movie, playing a game, or having a conversation. Spiritual discernment is what Paul prayed for back in Philippians 1:9: “And it is my prayer that your love may abound more and more, with knowledge and all discernment.” Philippians. 4:8 is that prayer put into action!
So get rid of grouchiness with gospel-centered thinking! Then spread the joy to others — not just on “Thankful Thursday,” but every day of the week!