Portraying Positivity Amidst Personal Struggles

Have you ever been in a situation where you felt like there was a tension taking place? You were being pulled in two different directions at the same time? Well, today I'm going to be sharing with you what I consider to be the biggest tension that I live with every day of my life. And you probably do as well.

Welcome to becoming wiser with Dr. Robert A. Rome, author and world renowned public speaker, as he shares stories and involving his experiences and lessons learned in a good, spirited, positive and fun way. Here's Dr. Robert A. Rome.

Hello, I'm Dr. Robert Rome, and on today's podcast, when we're talking about Becoming wiser, I want to share with you a principle that I have found to work in my life every day of my life. And it's a challenge to me to have to deal with this situation. But the principle that I'm going to share with you will cause you to be able to work with this because it's something that's common to all of us. So let me just explain to you what it is and how it works. There is the outward nature of our life, the way we behave, the way we act, the way we come across to others. And I believe it should be upbeat, it should be encouraging, it should be positive. It should be one that encourages and edifies and cares about other people. It should be one of kindness. It should be one that communicates and demonstrates I care about you. You are an important person. I want to say words of life to you. I want to lift you up. I want to say words to you like, thank you, boy. I appreciate that. It's so good to see you today, man. That meant a lot to me. You know, you're really a good person. I love being around you. All of those phrases are not just simply talk, but they really are words of life. And we should speak them to people and we should mean them. I want to communicate to others that it's good to see you. I'm glad that you're here. I care about you. In a word, I want to lift you up. That's outward. Outwardly, we need to communicate a positive, optimistic, enthusiastic attitude towards life. Personally, I want to be the most positive person that you meet today. I want to say things to you that are kind and uplifting. I don't want to say things that are hurtful. I don't want to say things that are sarcastic. Someone once said that sarcasm is nothing more than cruel humor. There's a lot of truth to that. I don't want to use words of sarcasm. I don't want to use words of bitterness or unkindness. I want to lift you up. When you walk away from me, I want you to feel like you just had a drink of cool, fresh water. All of that, my friends, is what's going on on the outside. Now, what's going on on the inside. This is where the tension takes place. This is where the challenge occurs. Because on the inside, I want to be a humble, broken.

Lowly.

Servant of God. I want to look at myself as not better than anyone else, not full of pride or arrogance. On the inside, I want to say to myself, you got to bear with me because I've already told you, this is attention. On the inside, I want to say, you are nobody. You are nothing. You are not important. The world does not revolve around you. You are not the greatest of anything. You are sinful. You are one who's failed in life. You are one who's made bad choices. You are one who should be careful what you do, who you hang around with, where you go and what you say. Now hear me well. I'm not talking about beating yourself up. I'm talking about. And I'm going to explain this even better as we go. But you've got to listen to get the picture, because it took me not years, it took me decades to really understand how this works on a daily, practical basis. You see, when I wake up in the morning, I want to say to my wife, good morning, good to see you. I'm so grateful I get to be married to you. But I also want to say to myself, be careful, because if you think you're better than her or if you think you're better than anybody, you're going to come across with an attitude of arrogance or pride. And that's where, my friends, we make our first step of going down the wrong path. As soon as you think you're better than someone, as soon as you think you're more wonderful than someone, you just walked one step in the wrong direction because it's a slippery slope. And then downhill you begin to slide all day long, comparing yourself and we are warned in the scriptures, for example, not to compare ourselves with other people. You see, here's why it's if I'm better than you, I'm going to be full of arrogance and pride. If I'm worse than you, I'm going to be frustrated and depressed. And God doesn't want you to be frustrated and depressed, and he doesn't want you to be full of pride and to be arrogant. So there's a balance that has to take place. There's a scriptural principle that says, be careful how you walk considering your own self, lest you fall into temptation. I'm going to put that into everyday language. Don't ever brag about something that you haven't done because your life isn't over. Don't ever talk about what you would not do in a situation that you've never been in. Because quite frankly, you don't know what you would do in a situation that you've never been in before. I hope that you would come out smelling like a rose. I hope that you'd be the greatest person that ever lived. I'm just real, real careful. I know I'm capable of anything that's on the inside. I'm capable of heinous sins. I'm capable of doing anything evil and wrong. I don't want to, but you see, I'm safer by thinking, you know what you're capable of anything. You better be careful. That carries you a lot safer through life then. Well, I could never be that way. I'd never be like that. I could never say anything like that. Listen, the way you protect yourself is the people that you hang around with and where you let your feet take you. There used to be a street in Atlanta called Stewart Avenue. Stewart Avenue is known for drug dealing and prostitution and just full of evil. Guess what? I don't go to Stewart Avenue. I don't hang out on Stewart Avenue. You know why? Because I don't know what I would do once I got there. It's just better to not go there. So, you see, there's the tension. The tension is. Well, I wouldn't do anything wrong. But that's only. That's on the inside. If I'm thinking I'm not capable of doing anything wrong, that's what I'm thinking on the inside. Then on the outside, I go hang out on Stewart Avenue. That would be very foolish because now I've created a way for me to actually get myself into trouble. So there's this tension. What do you do on the outside? Where do you go on the outside? What do you look at? What do you listen to? What do you talk about? All that's outwardly, we call it your behavior, we call it your actions. But what's going on on the inside, it should be careful. Be careful what you say. Be careful how you handle this. You can't get your words back. You can't. You, you, you be. Watch out. Watch out. Now, let me show you how. Where all this started. If I'm going to share with you, I'm going to read to you how this all began. And once you understand this, you'll begin to see it. I'm reading from the book of Isaiah. It's the old Testament, chapter 14. I'm going to read verses 12 through 15. This is how the devil, Lucifer, Satan decided one day on the inside, he would say what was going on inside of him. He would say it outwardly. Are you ready? Listen to this.

How are you fallen from heaven? O morning star, son of the dawn, you have been cast down to earth. You who once laid low the nations, you said in your heart, listen five times I will ascend to heaven. I will raise my throne above the stars of God. I will sit enthroned on the mount of the assembly. On the utmost heights of the sacred mountain, I will ascend above the tops of the clouds. I will make myself like the most high. Five times Satan, Lucifer said, I will be greater than God. That's what was going on inside of his heart for some times. Not an attitude of humility or brokenness, but an attitude of arrogance and pride. And finally, what's inside of your heart comes outside. That's why it's so important to guard your heart. The Bible says in Proverbs 4, Guard your heart, for out of it are all of the issues of life. So what was in Satan's heart eventually came out of his mouth, out of his words. And here's the conclusion of that. Are you ready? But you are brought down to the grave, to the depths of the pit. God basically said, I don't think that's going to happen, not today. And even though five times he tried to overpower the throne of God, overpower God himself by saying, I will do this and I will do that, at the end of those five declarations, he was brought down to nothing. Isn't it interesting how we all have the attitude of, boy, the devil's bad, evil is bad. We even think them in terms of we, we call someone, you know, you're a son of Satan, or we use words that talk about the devil, or they're as mean as the devil. We have all kinds of expressions that come up in our minds and in our daily use. Why is that? Because it shows. He demonstrated an attitude of arrogance and pride and all it ended up doing was destroying him. I, I, this is not original with me. I had a friend, he's in heaven now. His name was Charles Tremendous Jones. I asked him about this one time. I said, we're in the world of PMA Positive mental attitude. Outwardly, I want to be positively positive, but inwardly, I don't want to be full of arrogance and pride. Charlie's the only person that said, it has taken me a lifetime to learn this, but here's what I've discovered. Outwardly, be the most uplifting, positive, encouraging person anybody will meet today. But inwardly, be a lowly, broken, poured out servant of God. Realize in your heart there is nothing inside of me that makes me better than the next person. There is nothing that makes me better or greater than the next person. Sure, I'm better off by knowing God. Sure, I'm better off by following Him. But this is hard. This is hard. Hear me well. I'm speaking to you from. I'm 74. I'm giving you the very best wisdom that I have. You see, Jesus didn't die on the cross because we were pretty good people. But we made a couple of mistakes along the way. He died on the cross and gave up his life and shed his blood for our sins. What are sins? I think it's interesting. The Bible says In Proverbs, chapter 6, these six things does God hate. Yea, seven are an abomination unto him. And the first one is a proud look. Notice it's not. It's not divorce, it's not murder, it's not stealing, it's not adultery. It's pride. It's arrogance. Because that's the first step. The first step is I'm better than you. I could never do that. Oh, I'm really, really at my. At my core, I'm really a good person. I find it so interesting. I hear that all the time. People say, well, I'm really a good person. One day some people came to Jesus and they said, good Master, we have a question for you. He looked at them, and of all things, he said, why do you call me good? There are none good except God alone. Well, that settles that. In my book, God is the one that's good and not me. But I have to work at being good. I have to try to be good. I walk a tightrope every day of my life. It sounds like this. Inwardly, be good. Work at it. Be careful. Don't be full of arrogance. Don't be full of pride. There's one more scriptural principle. James, chapter four, verse six. Here's what it says. Don't miss it. God resists the proud, but he gives grace to the humble. Now, I don't know where you are in your life. I don't Know if you need some grace. What is grace? Grace is God's favor. It's his blessing. It's his help in your life. You want to get some of that? I do. I want to get some of God's blessings, some of his favor, some of his guidance. And I don't say this arrogantly. I say this broken. I see it happening to me all the time. I get a quote, unquote lucky break. I meet the right person, I'm in the right place at the right time. How does that happen? It's not cause I'm such a wonderful person. It's because I focus on humility.

Again. James 4. 6. God resists or God is against those who are full of pride. I don't know about you, but I don't want God against me. If you want him to be against you, that's your business. You have every right to believe that and think that. Don't count me in. I want God. Are you listening to me right now? I want to be a person who's broken and humble before you. Thank you. That even though I'm a sinful creature, Christ died and shed his blood. He gave up his life for me to pay for my sins. Well, where does that lead me? That leaves me to. I can continue to work on the inside with my thought life, my. My attitude, my actions, the way I feel inside, what I think about myself, how I see myself, and then convert that somehow outwardly through. Good to see you today. I hope things are going great in your lives. Anything I do to help you, anything I can pray for you about. I'm so glad that I know you and. And I just want you to know I care about you. I don't. There's a lot of things I know, believe me. I've been around the world several times. I've graduated from five colleges and universities. I have a World Series ring. I've been on six continents. I don't. With all that, I don't think I'm better than anybody. I think I'm better off than a lot of people. For one reason. I understand this principle. So as we wrap this up, here's your new assignment. For the rest of your life, outwardly, smile, be positive. Have good things to say to other people. Be the most positive, encouraging, uplifting, edifying person that anybody will meet today. Inwardly say to yourself, God, I want to humble myself before you. Please guide me, direct me and help me to be the person you want me to be. If you live with that tension and you work with it day by day you're going to be successful and have the life I promise you that you wanted to have all of your life and it'll follow you all the days of your life. Thanks for our time together. I look forward to our next broadcast when we talk soon. Have a great day. God bless you. For more information about this podcast, please visit www.becoming wiser podcast.com.