The Right Bias

Proverbs 10:27-30

The hopes of the godly result in happiness, but the expectations of the wicked come to nothing. (Proverbs 10:28)

IMAGINE READING REVIEWS OF a product and noticing three that are negative among hundreds that are positive. Or seeing an A in five classes on your child’s report card but a C in another. Or hearing one critical comment about your performance among twenty compliments. Where does your mind focus? Which comments stand out? What does your problem-solving tendency drive you to think about? If you’re like most people, you have “negativity bias”—an inclination toward negative events and opinions, even when they are vastly outnumbered by positive ones. Most of us major on the glass-half-empty.

Negativity bias can be explained in psychological and neurological terms, but it has profoundly spiritual implications. It colors our ability to give thanks, to have faith, to hold on to hope, and to express love. It causes us to worry about everything that might go wrong rather than enjoying everything that goes right. It drives us toward our problems and losses, toward unfortunate exceptions rather than helpful examples, toward questions about unanswered prayers rather than a celebration of those answered, toward people’s flaws rather than their assets, and on and on. Negativity shapes our lives and attitudes in subconscious ways and undermines our spiritual growth. It’s part of our nature.

But it’s only part of our fallen nature, not our redeemed and restored nature. It is not a reflection of the image of God within us. We are told instead to rejoice always, give thanks in everything, and to hold on to all that is good (1 Thessalonians 5:16-21). Overcoming our negativity bias is more than good exercise; it’s actually a sign of the Kingdom of God growing within us. It’s also a witness to others of greater, deeper, truer realities than the ones they’re experiencing in the here and now. God knows the negativity embedded in our fallen mind-set, and he gives us the tools to change it. When we do, we become a living testimony to the hope of his Kingdom and the blessings of knowing him.

{Father, give me the right bias. Help me flip the switch in my brain that is drawn to the problem areas of life. Fill my heart, mind, and spirit with truth, hope, joy, gratitude, and celebration—and let my bias affect the attitudes of everyone I meet. Amen.