How's Your Attitude

Happy Sunday! I turned 65 last week. Time flies. Over the years, I've learned the importance of my attitude. As a Christian, I try my very best to remain positive. After all, God loves me, and when this life is over, I have a much better one waiting for me.

However, while I am here, I choose to have a good attitude. Now, some days it's easy to have a great attitude; other days it can be challenging. One of my favorite things is to see people who have had tough lives also have good attitudes. You've likely seen people who seem to have it made possess bad attitudes as well. It's a choice, a choice we make every day.

The Apostle Paul had a great attitude. He also had some very, very tough times. He was shipwrecked, snake bit, beaten, lied about, and imprisoned falsely, to name just a few things. I love what he wrote in 2 Corinthians 4:8 and 9. There he said about his toughest times, "We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed."

What a great attitude! Many would turn bitter or angry for all those things happening to their lives, but not Paul. If you've ever watched the news after a tornado has wiped out a community, you'll notice two types of people. One group will inevitably say, "We lost everything, but we're alive. God sure took care of us." And another group will say, "We lost everything. How could God do this to us?"

The same thing has occurred, and the attitude has determined the response. Today, let's for a second look at God's formula, modeled by Paul, for a great attitude. Earlier we read Second Corin Ians 4:8 and 9. Listen now to verse 7: "But we have this treasure in clay jars, so that it may be made clear that this extraordinary power belongs to God and does not come from us."

What Paul is saying here is that we're fragile. We're equated to clay jars, easily broken, and we can be easily broken. But Paul says we have this treasure. This treasure is referring to Jesus Christ in our lives. Because we have Jesus, our attitudes ought to endure anything, and we ought to shine.

I've read that there are two reasons that people are not Christians. Number one, they never met one, and number two, they have. You know what I'm talking about. Sadly, some who claim to be Christians have horrible attitudes. This ought not be.

We should shine in this dark world. That's straight from verse 6 in 2 Corinthians chapter 4. There it says, "For it is God who said, 'Let light shine out of darkness,' who has shown in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ." As a Christian, there should always be a light shining in our hearts so that we sing see things properly. When we see as God wants us to, our attitudes conform to where they should be.

Let me give you a couple of examples. At the last church I pastured, there was a door that I was always fixing. The lock was messed up, and it required regular maintenance. Now, locksmiths are expensive, and I could maintain it myself, so I did, but I did it a lot.

One day I was griping in my mind as I was once again repairing the door, and it seemed that God whispered to me that I should be grateful that the door was being used so much. People were coming in and out of that door, and my attitude changed. I remember another time being a little upset because there were crayon marks on a brand new table. God reminded me that I should be thankful for the boys and girls who sat at that table.

Now, these are little things. And remember how we started with these words from verses 8 and N of 2 Corinthians 4. These are big things. Paul said, "We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; we're perplexed, but not driven to despair; even persecuted, but never forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed."

Now, these are real issues, life and death, not simp simple things like doors and tables. Let me share this: if we let the light shine in the little things, we will let our light shine in the big things as well. If we have a great attitude in the mundane, we will have great attitudes in the toughest of times.

Several years ago, when I was in Mississippi, I met with a friend that was given a tough diagnosis of an incurable disease, and he said to me, "Whether God will heal me or I will die and go to heaven, that's what's going to happen. I'll either be healed or I'll go to heaven." And he said for him it was a win-win situation. I loved his attitude. He was ready for this big event because he was faithful through the little events.

How's your attitude? I pray you see say things the way that God wants you to. The world's watching.

Pray with me. Lord, help our attitudes. Help our attitudes to be how you would want us to be, that we don't give up, that we don't quit, that we don't gripe, that we don't complain, but we have joy in the midst of everything because you are with us. Thank you that you are with us. Let others see that in our lives. In the name of Jesus I pray, amen.

God bless. Thanks for joining me today.