Attitude

How is your attitude these days?


The weather is changing from fall to winter. The days are getting darker and shorter. The economy. Job instability. Issues with health care. The Ebola outbreak. Hunger and 
hatred.  All of the previous issues are heard about nearly nightly on the news and none of the previous issues inspire or instill hope. Isn't it easy to have a glass half empty mentality? Isn't it easy to join the critics and become an expert at analyzing why everything is so bad and wrong? Isn't it easy to become a Siskel and Ebert thumbs down critic? This is normal and natural for all of us humans, Christian and non-Christian. 

It's hard to explain what attitude is but we all know what it means.

Attitude is that inner reality expressed outwardly.
Attitude reveals our past.
Attitude communicates our present.
Attitude predicts our future.
Attitude is our best friend or our enemy.
Attitude attracts or repels people.
Attitude has power. 
Attitude is contagious.

I am always inspired by Jesus' attitude. I am always inspired by the attitudes of people who spend intimate time with Jesus. I am inspired by the Psalmists as they complained about their circumstances to God at the beginning of their worship song or poem but by the end, God has transformed their attitude to hope, joy and love. Most often, God did nothing to change their situations yet their attitude was totally transformed.

Phil 2:5 "Your attitude should be the same as that of Jesus."
v 14-15 (Msg) "Do everything readily and cheerfully—no bickering, no second-guessing allowed! Go out into the world uncorrupted, a breath of fresh air in this squalid and polluted society. Provide people with a glimpse of good living and of the living God."

Paul reminds us that attitude is a choice. The choice we make rubs off on others. This choice is powerful. It is contagious. It rubs off on people. What are you rubbing off on others? 

There is nothing like the...
"I want to" attitude.
"The glass is half full" attitude.
"The nothing is impossible with God" attitude.

What is your attitude like these days?

“If you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from His love, if any fellowship with the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and purpose.” Phil 2:1-2

Praying that our attitude will be more and more like Jesus' attitude,
Pastor Chris

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