Why Are They So Negative?

As Christians, we have all been taught about the power of speaking positive things. The Bible says “The tongue has the power of life and death, and those who love it will eat its fruit.” (Proverbs 18:21) This, basically, means that we will live what we speak. If we speak positive things over our lives, we will see positive results. On the contrary, if we speak negative things, we will see negative results in our daily lives. There are some of us who understand and believe this, and therefore, make a conscious decision to speak positive things into our own lives and the lives of the people around us on a daily basis. But there are some people who, for whatever reason, have chosen to do the opposite. These are people I like to call “nay sayers”. See, it doesn’t matter how good the idea is or how great things are going, a nay sayer will always say “nay”. It’s just what they do.

There are two problems with having to deal with a habitual nay sayer: 1) Constantly combating negative energy can be very draining to your spiritual man and 2) It is contagious and if you’re not careful, you’ll catch it without even realizing it. So, naturally, the easiest way to deal with a nay sayer is to stay as far away from them as possible. But what happens when the nay sayer is a friend? More than like likely, if this person is your friend, they have not always been this way, as most of us would not purposely befriend a person who constantly professes negative things. But now, it seems like every time you say something positive and uplifting, they come back with something negative and discouraging. You want to keep your friend, but you no longer want to feel drained and discouraged after talking to them.

The first thing you need to understand is that, they are, probably, not purposely trying to bring you down. The Bible says in Matthew 12: 34 that it is out of the abundance of the heart that the mouth speaks. So, they speak these things, not because they want to rain on your parade, but because they actually believe them. Therefore, in order to get them to stop focusing on and speaking negative things, you have to get them to stop believing those things. The second thing you have to understand is that, more than likely, they believe negative things because they perceive difficult situations in their lives as negative. This is a sign of weak faith, since we know that “all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose” (Romans 8:28).

If we know that habitual nay saying comes from weakened faith and the Bible says “Accept him whose faith is weak, without passing judgment on disputable matters” (Romans 14: 1), then your job as a Christian, and as a friend is very simply to not engage. Instead of arguing or allowing your positive thoughts to be contaminated by negativity, back your words with the promises of God. No one can argue with that. Be strong in your faith. Be fully convinced that if God said it, he will perform it. In doing so, you disarm the enemy that seeks to discourage you. Continue to speak the promises of God over the life of your nay saying friend. Encourage them. Uplift them. Help them build their faith. Before you know it, they will begin speaking positive things too. After all, positive thinking can be contagious too.