ATTITUDE!
Your attitude is the face of your relationship with God. Is this true? Is there any connection between your relationship with God and the attitude you express to others?
In psychology, an attitude refers to a set of emotions, beliefs, and behaviors toward a particular object, person, thing, or event. A bad experience or social norms can influence your attitude. Your attitude can influence political decisions, religious preferences, and opinions on social issues.
A friend of mine used to say, “A bad attitude is like a flat tire. You can’t go anywhere until you change it!” And yet, every day it is not unusual to meet people with a bad attitude. They may serve you in a restaurant or check you out at the grocery.
And occasionally, you meet someone with a bad attitude early in the morning as you look into the mirror. At that point, you must make a decision that will impact the rest of your day. Will you allow this bad attitude to control your thinking, choices, demeanor, and relationships? Or will you choose to reject that attitude, and strive for higher thoughts? Is the risk of harboring a few hours of a bad attitude worth the potential loss of clients, work associates, and friends? This may be the most important decision you make all day.
When I started in the ministry, I was like a huffing and puffing steam engine without tracks. When people didn’t get on board with my pronouncements, my attitude became dark and sullen. How could so many people be so wrong? It was a good friend who pointed out my “stinkin’ thinkin.’ It hurt.
Late one night, after a day of huffing and puffing, and meeting rebuke, the Lord led me to Philippians 2: 3-5 NLT, “Don’t be selfish; don’t try to impress others. Be humble, thinking of others as better than yourselves. Don’t look out only for your own interests, but take an interest in others, too. You must have the same attitude that Christ Jesus had.”
Philippians 2 has become the foundational premise of www.davidroseministries.com. Even though I still fail, and my attitude occasionally drifts into stinkin’ thinkin,’ my heart struggles with my attitude to get things right. It is a battle, but in Christ I overcome.
That noble attitude of Christ is described by the apostle Paul in Philippians 4:8 NLT, “And now dear brothers and sisters, one final thing. Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise.”
Is it true that your attitude is the face of your relationship with God? Maybe. When Moses encountered God, his face shone (Exodus 34:30). When Stephen was being stoned, he gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God, and “his face became as bright as an angel’s” (Acts 6:15 NLT). The face of Jesus “shone like the sun,” when He encountered God on the Mount of Transfiguration (Matthew 17:20). Think it over.
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