A gift from God himself

This is the day the Lord has made. We will rejoice and be glad in it. (Psalm 118:24)

No day is the same when Jesus is your Lord. Life is not very monotonous when we are serving Jesus as we should. How's your 'attitude' toward your day? If you find it a bit 'prickly', stop for a moment, take a breath and consider that YOU are responsible for what you feel AND what you appreciate in your day. Look for the right stuff in your day and you are more likely to find it!

This day is a gift from God - choose to be blessed in it. Remember this: The devil will always try to make you 'like' him, his 'things', and his 'attitude' toward life. He attempts to destroy our joy, the unity we enjoy with each other, and the relationships we need. When we allow the devil to be in control of how we see the world around us, we will be robbed of so much. Focus on those with differing views from yours long enough and you will begin to 'conform' to their views or be miserable trying to defend your own!

We must be unified in our mission to be devoted followers of Jesus. With God's help, we can choose what matters most over what calls for our attention now. The devil is all about the 'now' - get it now, do it now, say it now. Become aware of what you want MOST and focus on that - not on the NOW he proffers as the answer to our every whim. Define what drives you. If it is what you can have NOW instead of what you need he MOST, you might just find your days are a bit more 'prickly' than you'd like.

Time is measured in minutes, but life is measured in moments. (Psalm 39:4-5) We must learn to make every moment count - not just the NOW. As we experience God together, we grow together. As we share the good, the bad, the beautiful and even the ugly of our days with each other, we learn from one another. Our lives are always best when we take in the 'moments' we have together. What might just make our day a little better is to stop counting the minutes in our day and start focusing on the moments that we share. Just sayin!

Will they always understand?

Now, who will want to harm you if you are eager to do good? But even if you suffer for doing what is right, God will reward you for it. So don’t worry or be afraid of their threats. Instead, you must worship Christ as Lord of your life. And if someone asks about your hope as a believer, always be ready to explain it. But do this in a gentle and respectful way. Keep your conscience clear. Then if people speak against you, they will be ashamed when they see what a good life you live because you belong to Christ. Remember, it is better to suffer for doing good, if that is what God wants, than to suffer for doing wrong! (I Peter 3:13-17)

Have you ever done the 'right thing' only to have others criticize your efforts, or worse yet, not even notice that you did it? We can 'do right' and have all the 'wrong' motives for doing it. We can 'do right' with the 'right motives' and still be misunderstood by others, or not have our efforts acknowledged or appreciated. Does it make it any less important to continuously choose the right attitude and the right actions? Nope, sorry, it does not. A clear conscience is much better than the praise we might receive from the other person anyway. Be eager to do good - but don't always look for a 'good reward' from this world when you have done it. This world doesn't always understand 'right actions' done in the love and grace of God. It doesn't always recognize that we belong to Christ and our actions are 'formed' by the Spirit of God that lives within us. When they are criticizing our actions, they are really dissing Jesus!

Gentleness and respect in the face of criticism is often the furthest desire from how our hearts would like to respond. Yet, Jesus asks us to take a moment to be conscious of his power to respond with grace and peace. To be 'gentle' when the first desire of our hearts is to 'strike out' because we are misunderstood or under-appreciated is only possible when God's Spirit is given control of our thoughts, words, and actions. We might want to hurl back accusations or actions that show our disgust of the other person's behavior, but that is not our best course of action! We will suffer at times, even when we 'do good' - but when we suffer for having made wrong choices, is it possible the 'criticism' we receive is really a reminder we have made a wrong choice? Maybe God is using the words or actions of the other person to show us we did not do a very good job with the circumstances when we responded the way we did.

What's to be learned from our passage today? First, we aren't above the criticism of those who don't recognize Jesus behind the actions. They may not even realize that the grace we extend isn't something we 'naturally' come by but is 'worked out within us' in those times we spend with Jesus preparing for our day. Second, we are responsible for our own attitude and actions, not those of others. Their actions and attitude are between them and God. Did they affect us by their attitude or actions? Yes, but God doesn't expect us to change them - he asks us to never waver in doing good, even when we are misunderstood. Lastly, we only learn to 'do good' when we know what God requires of us. We get to know how to make 'good choices' because we have taken time to get to know how Christ acted when he was faced with similar choices. The more we get to know Christ, the closer our attitude and actions will be to his. The outflow of love and grace that comes from spending time with him is palpable. Will it always be understood as more than us being 'goody two-shoes'? Nope, but Jesus didn't always do things because his actions would be understood - he did those things because they were the right thing to do! Just sayin!

Be Jesus

Finally, all of you should be of one mind. Sympathize with each other. Love each other as brothers and sisters. Be tenderhearted, and keep a humble attitude. Don’t repay evil for evil. Don’t retaliate with insults when people insult you. Instead, pay them back with a blessing. That is what God has called you to do, and he will grant you his blessing.  For the Scriptures say, “If you want to enjoy life and see many happy days, keep your tongue from speaking evil and your lips from telling lies. Turn away from evil and do good. Search for peace, and work to maintain it. (I Peter 3:8-11)

We improve our relationship to Jesus through time in the Word and in prayer. We can get down to improving our relationship with others only after we get our relationship with Christ right. Mom always used to say I was to treat others as I wanted them to treat me - the Golden Rule. The only way to treat others right is to be sure the 'rightness of our heart' is maintained through time with Jesus. Try as we might, we cannot control what another says or thinks - even though we may be trying to do that for them. A wise counselor once told me I could never be another person's conscience, nor could I ever improve their behavior or attitude - that was the work of the Holy Spirit, not me. I could focus on the attitude I maintained and the behavior I exhibited - period. I will say there is power in being a positive example, though!

If you have ever tried to be kind when someone else is being a little bit of a bugger, it isn't all that easy! In fact, you might just want to be a bugger right back! It took me a long time to realize my attitude was all I could control. The more I took it to Christ, spending time exploring what he said in his Word, and what he was saying to me, the less I wanted to correct that other person's behavior. Why? Mine was enough to handle! Is it difficult to respond to criticism with grace? Yes, it can be, but when we listen 'between the lines' of what is being said, we sometimes find elements of truth that expose just a bit about ourselves or the circumstances we didn't really see on the surface. Some of the worst arguments have begun in my life because I never stopped to consider if there was any truth to what the other person was saying!

It is hard to stop to listen when an argument is beginning to raise your hackles, but somewhere within the two worlds that are colliding in a barrage of words and attitudes, there might be a little bit of truth we need to hear. It took a lot of time with Jesus to change my attitude toward some individuals - time well spent, I might add. When I allowed him to point out things I needed to work on instead of always focusing on why the other individual was 'wrong' or 'misled' in the situation, my attitude began to change toward the other individual. Gracious words began to replace hateful ones. Acts of service began to replace begrudging duty. Change like this within relationship is only possible when we get the first part of all relationship correct - Jesus in the center. The other individual may not even know Jesus, but your example may be the exact thing that draws them into a relationship with him of their own. Just sayin!

Choose Wisely

I will praise the Lord at all times. I will constantly speak his praises. I will boast only in the Lord; let all who are helpless take heart. Come, let us tell of the Lord’s greatness; let us exalt his name together. (Psalm 34:1-3)

As with all actions, praise is a choice. As Paul tells us, "...let us offer through Jesus a continual sacrifice of praise to God, proclaiming our allegiance to his name." (Hebrews 13:15) I don't think it is unusual for us to allow circumstances or situations outside of our control to influence our choices - we all likely do it on occasion. There is one choice that must be made with a full awareness of what is involved in that choice: Praise. We are determining to praise no matter what difficulty we face - we will not allow those things to control our attitude. Could it be possible that praise is really an attitude? It just might be!

Life's tough issues are bound to come to all of us and what we choose to dwell upon in those times will determine how we face them and how well we come through them. We can choose to grumble, complain, and almost grow bitter over them, or we can look at them as an opportunity. As someone once told me, God only disturbs our present in order to improve our future. When we begin to see the difficulties through that lens, we might just see it differently, choosing a much different attitude as we walk through those hard times. Are we tempted to grumble because it is hard? Yes, but we also could choose to turn that 'grumble' into praise - getting an attitude adjustment in the process.

The same individual pointed out to me that there was absolutely no way for me to choose another person's attitude. I could only choose mine. That meant I was not responsible for how another may face the circumstances at hand, but I could choose how I would. Too many times, I think we feel like we are responsible for how another acts, but they choose that attitude, and that attitude choice determines their actions. Our own attitude choice determines our response to the issues at hand. This is another important aspect of praise - we keep current with the issues. Too many times, people get into a grumbling and complaining attitude because they 'nurse' the past problems right along with the present ones.

God asks us to bring our cares (concerns, issues, troubling circumstances, doubts, worries, fears) to him. Nothing affects our attitude more than remaining current! We don't want to 'dwell' upon the stuff that was hard. We want to celebrate how much we know God is with us even when the issues are difficult. We can allow the issue to dictate our attitude, or we can allow God's promise to keep us, care for us, never leave us to influence our thoughts and actions. Choose to praise God with a genuine trust in his love for you and the circumstances may not change, but your attitude toward those circumstances will. Just sayin!

Are you a little 'unstable'?

"The greatest use of a life is to spend it on something that will outlast it." (William James) It was Mr. James who also reminded us that one can alter our life by altering our attitude. Attitude can range from pretty positive to absolutely negative and everything in between. We can be consistent until our attitude gets a little tweaked over something and then we just let things go awry. We can commit when we are soaring high, but as soon as things get tough, our attitude toward our commitments can turn pretty negative. Amazingly, attitude can determine what we spend our time doing - what we invest ourselves in the most. If we are use our life well, we are to spend it on something that will yield good results and our attitude can go a long, long way in helping us to realize that goal.

Don’t brashly announce what you’re going to do tomorrow; you don’t know the first thing about tomorrow. (Proverbs 27:1)

Maybe we have been going through life thinking we will always have a tomorrow, then when things hit us that we didn't expect, it throws our plans all out of whack. We get a negative attitude because OUR plans were interrupted - interference is most commonly viewed as 'negative' and sometimes even crippling. If we rely upon our feelings to determine our attitude for each day, we will be sorely defeated in a very short amount of time. As we have discussed many times, feelings are a bit too 'fickle' to rely upon. Our attitude is likely to change, especially due to caprice, irresolution, or instability; it becomes casually changeable - where our attitude goes, so go we!

How is it we can maintain the right attitude, so we aren't so easily swayed by the instability of our emotions? I think the easiest answer to this is to be consistently in God's Word and to allow his Holy Spirit to guide us into the understanding of that Word. When we allow the Word of God to begin to guide our lives rather than the emotion of the moment, we might just realize a more 'stable' attitude. Why do we struggle with taking God's Word into our lives? It is likely that we haven't really asked God to open it up to us - to reveal himself to us through his Word. As I walk each morning, I ask God to reveal his plan for my day - I have one, but I want to be sure I am within his as I pursue the passing hours. As I sit to study each morning, I ask for guidance to the passage that will speak into my life - I can read volumes from scripture and still feel as though I received nothing from it. 

It isn't the volumes we consume as much as the frame of mind we assume. When we humble ourselves to sit at his feet, listen to his voice, and hear his Word spoken to us, we begin to see our attitude is affected. Maybe not totally at first, but the more we settle into this place of meeting with him in consistency, the more we begin to see the peace of God settle our unstable emotions. Our feelings become less and less likely to guide our steps, and our attitude is less 'labile'. As the Holy Spirit begins to place little checks and balances in our lives, we must heed them. As we do, we find our plans align more and more closely with God's. That in and of itself is enough to bring the greatest attitude adjustment we could ever want. Just sayin!

Adjustment needed?

We cannot change our past. We cannot change the fact that people act in a certain way. We cannot change the inevitable. The only thing we can do is play on the one string we have, and that is our attitude. (Charles R. Swindoll)

Who is like the wise man? And who understands the meaning of anything? A man’s wisdom makes his face shine. The hard look on his face is changed. (Ecclesiastes 8:1)

What are we truly able to change? Many times, we think we can change others, but that probably hasn't worked so well for any of us. We have a hard enough time trying to change ourselves, much less another! We might think we can change the circumstances upon us, but most of the time we can just 'adjust our attitude' toward them. We sometimes believe we could have changed the world, but the world likely didn't want to be changed as we wanted it changed! Change is inevitable, but our attitude toward it is not. We choose the attitude by which we will face change as it comes. We don't change the past - it is already set. We don't change the future - it isn't in our control. We can impact the present - all by having the right attitude toward past, present, AND future.

Wisdom is what most of us actually need, but we seek other answers. We search for some 'truth' that really isn't there, all the while missing the truth that God wants us to see in that moment. We rally around events, people, and ideals we cannot possibly fully understand, but neglect to bring God into the plans around each of these. In the end, we wonder why things went so miserably wrong and why we feel so terrible over the matter or relationship. We left God out - we didn't make room for his wisdom in OUR plans. The fool trudges ahead, regardless of what God reveals, thinking he is wise in his own reasoning. The godly know they are foolish, regarding God's wisdom over their own in order to remain in the place of safety and godly protection.

Attitude is a choice. We can grumble against the plan of God - the place where we might find ourselves heading right now - but we all probably know that won't end as well as hoped. We can embrace it - thinking there has got to be a better way than the way God is choosing, but we know half-hearted commitment to God's plans isn't really what he is after. We can admit we are struggling with where God has us headed - honestly acknowledging our internal struggles with his plan - facing the circumstances with a commitment to see them through God's way, not our own. Which one do you think will bring us closer to God's desire for our lives? If you said the latter, you are probably right. 

God's ways may be hard to accept at times, but when we allow our attitude to be one of 'not my will, but thine', then we are likely to do more than 'endure' them. We are more likely to invest ourselves in his plan when we release our stubborn will and allow him to lead us. Attitude always determines altitude. Where we focus the most, and the 'attitude' we have within our hearts - that is what determines how well we will come through it all. Wisdom isn't always the same thing as understanding - we don't always need to understand God's plans to wisely walk within them. Just sayin!

GIGO

Summing it all up, friends, I’d say you’ll do best by filling your minds and meditating on things true, noble, reputable, authentic, compelling, gracious—the best, not the worst; the beautiful, not the ugly; things to praise, not things to curse. Put into practice what you learned from me, what you heard and saw and realized. Do that, and God, who makes everything work together, will work you into his most excellent harmonies. (Philippians 4:8)

I often go to this verse whenever I observe my thinking being a little too negative, my speech a little too critical, or my attitude just a bit off. Why? It is a reminder to me of the importance of taking particular note of what goes into my mind and what it is I allow my mind to contemplate over and over again. The old computer geek term of 'garbage in - garbage out' really holds true with this thing we call our brain. We do our best when our minds are filled with the right stuff - we don't do as well when there is input that 'muddies the water', so to speak.

The best, not the worst - we have a natural tendency to see the cup as half-full at times, don't we? Media plays a large part in pointing out all the varied ways our cup may not be all that full, doesn't it? It is possible to not even know our cup isn't full until we see or hear something telling us otherwise! Why do you think advertising companies put so much work into finding the right 'hook' for the product or service they are putting forward? Isn't it because they want us to know just how empty our lives are without that product or service? If your life is based in Christ, there is very little you need to make you 'fuller'!

True, noble, reputable, authentic, compelling, and gracious - those are some pretty well-defined 'boundaries' for our thought life, aren't they? If we are to be ready for tests, trials, and temptations, we need to know our boundaries, don't we? If we are to live consistent lives, we need boundaries to operate within. God knows the right 'input' will positively impact the 'output' of our lives. Consistency doesn't just come because the input is correct, though. It requires us putting into practice all we have learned, hear from God, and see in the positive living examples he provides for us.

I used to think consistency meant I never got off-course - in other words, I never screwed up. The truth of the matter is that we all screw up from time to time - it is what we do when with our screw ups that makes the difference. When we take our negative thoughts, raunchy attitude, and bitter speech to him, he isn't going to hold it against us. In fact, he will embrace us for being forthcoming with our missteps. Then he restores us - bringing back truth, nobility in our thoughts, righteous reputation, total authenticity, motivating compulsion, and forgiving graciousness into our lives. Consistency is knowing when we are not on course, making the necessary correction in that course, and then starting out again. Just sayin!

Let's hang out, or maybe not

Right now many of us have gone through periods of extended isolation because of COVID-19 and the need to 'stay-at-home' in order to reduce the likelihood of spreading the disease. Hanging out with each other hasn't been all that simple, has it? We miss those interactions and almost crave them a little. Who do you "hang out" with? You probably have a pretty "routine" group of acquaintances who you associate with more than others. Sometimes, we have groups at work or school, others at home and at church. They can overlap a little, but seldom are they all the same. When we have all these groups to associate with it is easy to be one person with one group and quite another with the other, isn't it? There is not a great deal of consistency between the members of the groups, so being a little different with each group usually doesn't present a problem. Until....one day, you find a member of one of your "groups" crossing-over into another! Perhaps you find yourself a little conflicted because you "act" one way with the present group, but quite a different way with the other - how will you hand the 'cross-over' knowing your 'two sides'. The truth about associations is the tendency we have to "blend" to their way of acting. We become like those we hang out with, don't we? Yeah, we hold onto some of the uniqueness of who we are, but we have a tendency to adapt to the "norms" of the group we are in.

Don’t hang out with angry people; don’t keep company with hotheads. Bad temper is contagious—don’t get infected. (Proverbs 22:24-25)

The "group norms" are the unwritten, often unspoken, "rules" that govern our behavior while within the group. It are the "norms" that help us to understand how to act. For example, if you come into a boardroom of well-dressed business men and women, wearing blue jeans and a polo, you might feel a little "out of place". The norms of the group dictate a different attire as appropriate for the boardroom setting. There are no written rules, but there is an understood rule of "presentation" - you are to display a professional image. If the norms of the group allow for a free-for-all kind of work environment, such as might be found in a creative business like an art studio, a man in a business suit would feel just as "out of place". I think God might just have understood "group norms" a little. He understands the idea of "conforming" to the group values. If the group values are good, this is not so much of a problem, but if they represent something less, we might find ourselves getting wrapped up in a type of behavior we'd be best to avoid. "Keeping company" with anyone who sways us away from upright behavior is always risky business. If our values "morph" to the values of the group we are in, isn't it important to understand the values pretty early on?

"Don't HANG OUT with angry people; don't KEEP COMPANY with hotheads." Here are two very important distinctions - hanging out and keeping company. Hanging out is really the casual kind of companion interaction - friends just being together without any real purpose or intent. Keeping company is more of a consistent kind of attention to the relationship, so as to associate with or consort with them.
If we "hang out" with angry people - having no real purpose or intent in our relationships - we might find it very easy to have our norms morphed just a little by those we are "hanging out" with, huh? It is equally as dangerous to form lasting relationships with these individuals (keeping company) - there is a tendency to partner with (come into agreement with) those we associate with over long periods of time. Whereas "hanging out" is casual and without any great intention, "keeping company" declares some type of commitment. God warns us against both the casual association with those who have an issue with anger and the committed relationship with one who had issues with being impetuous and short-fused. Anger is a long-term problem - temper is short-lived, but equally as devastating to the one on the receiving end! When we "hang with" or "commit to" others who display these tendencies, we both place ourselves in their direct path, AND we have exposed ourselves to the tendency to "morph" our actions to theirs.

The angry have made their violent rage a lifestyle. The hothead is probably more dangerous because you never really know what will "trigger" the next outburst! Either way, we are to be very cautious about entering into relationship with these individuals. Both can lead us down paths we'd probably never want to travel! The "rub" comes in being "affected" or "infected" by their actions. There are a whole group of "sins" that affect the one doing the sinning - there are others that affect others, as well. Anger and hotheadedness are two of the ones that are never content unless others are caught up in their "fray". So, it really does matter who we associate with, both in the casual sense, such as at the lunch table at work, and in the more permanent sense, such as a life-long companion. To be unaware of the damage of their anger or hotheadedness is to be naive. To this end, God warns us to avoid their company - to not purposefully place ourselves in a position to be affected by their "norms". Just sayin!

Don't cop that attitude with me!

The greatest day in your life and mine is when we take total responsibility for our attitudes. That's the day we truly grow up. (John C. Maxwell)

As I was raising my children, one of the most important lessons I believed they needed to learn was that of taking responsibility for their actions. Perhaps they didn't always appreciate the significance of this lesson, but I think it has served them well in their adult years. There are many of us that go through life attempting to shift responsibility from one place to another because making it our own is kind of uncomfortable at times and downright hard! We like the comfort of shifting blame, but does that really bring us any comfort? Not if you consider the weight of guilt blame-shifting places on your shoulders! Have you ever heard someone say, "You made me do it", or perhaps, "I have this bad attitude because you did that..."? Our attitude is OUR responsibility - it isn't dependent upon how another responds, what circumstances we find ourselves in at the moment, or even if it is a 'good hair day'. It squarely rests on our shoulders - no amount of 'blaming others' will ever change the attitude we have chosen.

Don’t let selfishness and prideful agendas take over. Embrace true humility, and lift your heads to extend love to others. Get beyond yourselves and protecting your own interests; be sincere, and secure your neighbors’ interests first. In other words, adopt the mind-set of Jesus the Anointed. Live with His attitude in your hearts. (Philippians 2:3-5)

If we choose the right attitude, we can master the right responses in life! The attitude of Christ was to put others first - not to make himself look good all the time. He didn't consider the ridicule of the Pharisee religious leaders of the day to be something that he'd dwell upon, or let it affect his response to those in need around him. Instead, he pressed on. He created a positive culture, not allowing others to 'dump on him', nor did he dump on others. Was he always a rule-follower? I think he may have been, but he wasn't afraid to challenge the 'rules' that didn't make sense. When money-changers set up tables in the temple to exchange the currency of those who would travel from afar to offer their yearly offerings and special offerings, he challenged them. Why? They had adopted an attitude of greed - taking a 'cut' of the money exchange as their own. There would have been a great deal of temptation to not 'upset the apple cart' since it didn't really seem anyone was getting 'significantly hurt' by this exchange. Yet, Jesus isn't willing to 'leave well enough alone'. 

He may have seemed upset (angry even) to the onlookers, but in fact, he chose the right attitude - he was protecting God's people. Anywhere between 300,000 and 400,000 Jews came to the Temple each Passover season. That was a huge chunk of change for these money-changers, knowing that the Greek and Roman coinage would have to be exchanged into the Jewish shekels in order to buy their offerings. Many of these thousands would have been poor or 'lower-income' individuals. To lose even a small portion of their funds was significant to them. So, in choosing to cleanse the Temple of these money-changers, Jesus was actually saying he valued the people he came to redeem. The choice we make in exhibiting the right attitude is entirely ours - the motivation for the attitude coming from deep within our heart. If we align our heart with Christ, our attitude should be pretty 'right-on', my friends. Just sayin!

A shiny lure

One of the neighbors recently blessed my grandsons with a huge tackle box and several smaller ones filled to the brim with all manner of fishing tackle. The lures in there were worth hundreds, some not even used yet, beautiful and shiny. The boys were overjoyed with such a treasure. As my neighbor is getting ready to move, he didn't think he'd need these any longer, so he wanted to bless the boys with them since they have many more years to enjoy their use. As you can well imagine, the fisherman with this much tackle must have had some rods and reels to go with it. He also blessed them with those! It was a double-day of blessing. The rod and reel alone is not much good without the tackle and vice versa. You need both to get the job done! There are times we try to get the job done with one thing in our life, but not another - we want the benefits of Christ without the commitment (the work). We want the blessing, but we don't want the one doing the blessing. We want the privileges without the responsibility. Unfortunately, the 'job' of salvation doesn't get done without both parts - grace and faith!

There should be a consistency that runs through us all. For Jesus doesn’t change—yesterday, today, tomorrow, he’s always totally himself. Don’t be lured away from him by the latest speculations about him. The grace of Christ is the only good ground for life. Products named after Christ don’t seem to do much for those who buy them. (Hebrews 13:8-9 MSG)

God doesn't change - it is our attitude toward him that does. He doesn't manipulate his appearance or 'performance' - we just see him differently from time to time because of our attitude. How we think determines a lot about our attitude. How we behave is motivated by what we believe and what we trust in at the moment. Believe in the lure and the line and you will fish for hours. Give up on either and you will likely go hungry! We all get lured away from time to time - it is part of our 'attention deficit disorder' as Christians. We find it hard to be consistent ALL of the time - because this right-living thing gets exhausting on occasion. Our attitude takes constant focus - it drives us to respond in ways we would otherwise be less likely to if not motivated by its influence. 

Keeping the right attitude helps us in more ways that one might imagine. There are times when I just need to ask God for an attitude-check. I need him to help me make adjustments were they need to be made. Why? My attitude has a tendency to be influenced by circumstances, other people, what I hear, and whatever acts as the shiniest lure in my life at the moment. I daresay I am not alone in this tendency to get lured away into things that begin to eat away at my attitude of trust and faith little by little. In fact, there are probably hundreds of us right now thinking on things we would be better not considering, or listening to some enticing scheme of the enemy of our souls that we should be listening to in the first place. This battle is real - we are lured away and into things that shouldn't have any pull on us, but the pull is stronger than our natural ability to resist.

Thank goodness for God's grace and his protection. He isn't about to let us wallow in the wrong attitude for too long because he knows it will begin to affect all our choices and actions - not in a good way, either. So, he brings this little 'grace-gift' called conviction. Would you think of conviction as a gift? If you have never considered it as one, think again! Grace brings conviction - in love, God points out where our attitude is being lured and where our trust is being misaligned. The moment we realize God's grace in conviction, there is release. We no longer are captured by the lure - we are free again. The thing about sin is that it takes both the lure and the line - one to entice us, the other to reel us in! Grace does more than cut the line - it unhooks us from the lure!

In God's goodness, the convicting moments actually bring about an adjustment in our attitude - an ability to see the lure as something we don't want to move toward again. If pursued again, we'd end up under its control and moving into places again best left unexplored. God doesn't change - his grace isn't a one-time deal. His love isn't a fleeting fancy. He will repeatedly bring conviction until we begin to stop pursuing the lure that is affecting our attitude so greatly. When he does, don't look at his grace as a thing to be taken lightly - it is a display of his tremendous love to pursue us even when our attitude has wondered into territory best described as 'foul'. Just sayin!

Where's that nose pointed?

I have always appreciated John Maxwell's leadership advice. He is an excellent teacher and one of my favorite thoughts from him is that "people may hear your words, but they feel your attitude." Attitude comes in louder and clearer than just about anything else because it is palpable. Even when you attitude is that of apathy or disinterest, there is a certain sense of 'feeling' that presents with your disinterest. Most of the time, we are making judgments about people and how certain interactions went not so much by the actual words, but by the attitude which was displayed while those words were shared.

A relaxed attitude lengthens a man’s life; jealousy rots it away. (Proverbs 14:30 TLB)

3 Don’t be selfish; don’t live to make a good impression on others. Be humble, thinking of others as better than yourself. 4 Don’t just think about your own affairs, but be interested in others, too, and in what they are doing. (Philippians 2:3-4 TLB)

Attitude is reflected in our actions, words, and even in our expressions. This is why it matters so much that our attitude and our actions are on the same page! We don't want to say one thing, while having an attitude that reflects we don't really mean what we say. We don't want to promise a certain action, while having an attitude that says 'when hell freezes over'. Attitude begins pretty much in our thoughts - as we think, we act. We find our attitude often is 'adjusted' when our thoughts begin to change toward something.

Dread of something usually comes when we think upon the difficulties or unpleasantness of the thing we are about to do. Dread that walk? It might be caused by you first thinking upon how much you will sweat in the heat and that 'colors' your enthusiasm to get out there and just walk off some of that stress you are under. Dread that pile of laundry? It probably isn't so much the task of washing it as it is folding it, hanging it up, ironing it, and then helping it find the right storage location in the various rooms of your house! It could also be the idea that has formed that no one seems to appreciate all that labor you go through to put those clean clothes on their backs.

Attitude really goes a long way in determining how much 'oomph' we put into whatever is before us, doesn't it? If we really aren't getting much out of a relationship, or worse yet, that relationship is one that seems to kind of suck the life out of us, we might not be all that enthusiastic in our interactions with that person. We 'turn off' when around them - 'spending time', but not really enjoying it or being present in the moment. You have probably heard me say on more than one occasion that attitude determines altitude. You cannot climb higher than the attitude of plane's nose - it is an aeronautical term. Wherever the nose is pointed, that is the altitude one will eventually assume.

While we cannot always be 'on target' with a positive attitude, fully engaged, and constantly consistent in attitude, we can make great strides by allowing a continual examination of our thoughts to ensure they are pointing us in the right direction to attain a more positive attitude! Just sayin!

Need an attitude adjustment?

The greatest day in your life and mine is when we take total responsibility for our attitudes. That's the day we truly grow up. (John C. Maxwell)

Maxwell also reminds us that others often hear our words, but it is our attitude that comes through even clearer than any of our words! I have heard it said that our attitude determines our altitude - the way we will go is revealed in the attitude we maintain in our pursuit. We assume an attitude and it either carries us or weighs us down - it is simply that which "fixes" us to the point we are aiming toward.

Work hard to show the results of your salvation, obeying God with deep reverence and fear. 13 For God is working in you, giving you the desire and the power to do what pleases him. 14 Do everything without complaining and arguing, 15 so that no one can criticize you. Live clean, innocent lives as children of God, shining like bright lights in a world full of crooked and perverse people. (Philippians 2:12-15 NLT)

As Paul writes to the church at Philippi, his one main goal is for them to grow up in Christ and to experience true contentment and joy. There is something powerful in contentment, maybe because it stems from a mind and heart truly focused on Christ - not swayed easily by every distraction around us. The attitude of contentment often drives us toward things that are truly worthy of our attention and keeps us away from things that will serve as nothing more than nuisance distractions in life.

As Paul indicated, one has to work hard at maintaining the right attitude that helps one attain the right altitude in life. The presence of God in our lives, working in us, giving us the desire and the power to do what pleases HIM is what is in consideration here, my friends. For our attitude is directly "conditioned" or "formed" by that which dwells within! When Christ is front and center in our lives, we find our attitude begins to reflect the conditions of contentment, peace, joy, and focus!

As Maxwell indicated, the thing that comes through the loudest or clearest most of the time is our attitude - the thing that some refer to as our "mental position". We take up this position - it isn't thrust upon us. Too many times we want to blame another for our attitude, or even the circumstances around us, but the truth of the matter is that our attitude is entirely within our control! It is something we assume (take up) - not something another gives us. 

When Christ dwells within, we are less likely to assume attitudes of haughtiness, anger, or even disdain for another. Why? His Spirit within us exerts a pull much in the same way the needle on a compass continually "pulls" north - there is a power within that "rights" our focus. Remember, focus and attitude go hand-in-hand. One is directly related to the other. His Spirit within helps us move toward grace and, in turn, to draw others toward grace, not to repel them with harsh or uncomely attitudes. 

If we find our attitude needs a little "adjusting" now and again, it is likely that the Spirit of God is "pulling" us toward center once again - he is exerting just enough pull to get us focused on Christ so that our attitude begins to reflect his grace once again. Just sayin!

Learning to Love

Eleanor Roosevelt once said, "The giving of love is an education in itself." Oh, so true!  If you don't believe that then just try to love someone who has been acting "unlovely" for even a tenth of the time and you will see just how much YOU have to learn in order to do just that!  When another offends, the immediate response for most of us is to get our feeling hurt and maybe even to want to offend them right back. We want them to hurt as much as we are hurting - this is human nature. What a huge volume of education we receive from the Holy Spirit's still small voice reminding us that love is not always reciprocated, nor does it always respond immediately or in the ways we would desire!

Let us think of ways to motivate one another to acts of love and good works. (Hebrews 10:24 NLT)

Let me just assure you that I am still in the "learning mode" when it comes to this whole "love" thing. I don't have this all figured out, and I don't think I have always received "top notch grades" on that report card! My feelings get hurt just like the next person's. My responses when feelings get control are probably equally as lame as the other person's. My intellect might tell me to do one thing, but my feelings tell me to do another, and then the Spirit of God within me tells me something totally different! Figuring out "how" to love is kind of a process of a whole lot of trial and error - I try a little of this and a little of that - hopefully connecting the dots a little, but sometimes completely messing it up. The good news is that I know I am not on this journey of learning alone! You are right there beside me!

A couple of things I have learned along the way are hopefully worth the sharing, though. First, when I get my feelings hurt it is usually because I expected more from someone or a situation. I have had to stop on more that one occasion to remind myself that those expectations may not have been all that achievable at that particular moment - especially when emotions have run a little too close to the edge for a while. What I find myself doing is adjusting my focus a little - so I see things from a more realistic vantage point. For example, if the two of us were totally stressed out at work and then we responded to each other in hasty comments or hurtful words because of how much "junk" we are carrying around from those circumstances, did we really mean to be that curt or hurtful in our words to each other? Probably not, but since we were carrying all that baggage that the other person didn't really understand we were carrying, we each had unrealistic expectations as to how we thought the other should have acted / reacted.

That leads me to the second thing I have learned - there is a timing issue when it comes to managing our emotions. There may be a moment when we just need to pause before we respond. That moment can make all the difference because we take that deep breath, recenter our thoughts, tamp down the embers of anger that may be starting to ignite, and then be able to speak with just a little less "irritation". Love requires us to not just respond, but to do so in a way that manages the relationship well - not in ways that adds fuel to an already out of control fire! When life has us tied up in knots, the last thing we want to do is pull the knots tighter! While this takes some "learning" on all of our parts, it is well-worth the "learn" to avoid the "burn"!

Lastly, I've found when I begin to look for ways to "motivate" each us toward love I am less focused on the things I have been focusing on that actually keep us from learning to love each other. I will be the first to admit, no one can motivate me - it something that comes from within - but those responses can be "cultivated". When someone else refuses to get angry, I find myself calming down, becoming more reasonable, and being willing to actually talk things through. When someone else responds in compassion to my harried responses, I find myself feeling like someone else cares what I am going through. Sometimes I have to do this a whole lot in my relationships, hardly realizing any "return on my investment" of "cultivating" actions. Yet, when I have refused to accept the anger of another, or the apathy of someone who has just lost their way, I find myself giving above and beyond what I ever thought was possible. It isn't me doing it, you know - it is Jesus in me helping with those responses. I never lose sight of that! Just sayin!

Disposition matters

Charm is that "magical" power to please or attract through one's personality or beauty, almost as though someone were "under the spell" of the one with so much "charm".  Charm is not a bad thing, but one can become obsessed with the things one believes will make them "more charming".  Beauty is not bad - but the continual, obsessive pursuit of the next greatest "fad" designed to make or keep you "beautiful" can become somewhat like the worship of beauty.  A great personality is indeed a plus for the one's who have to "deal with you" day after day, but sometimes we "label" someone's personality as "dry", "introverted", and the like.  We aren't always attracted to those individuals because they aren't "out there" in the lime-light all the time.  If there weren't a few "dry" or "introverted" individuals in this world, I don't think we'd have ever discovered things we enjoy pretty much right now - like electricity, social media, and Facebook!  We cannot be deceived by what we see on the outside - as my mom always used to tell me, "You cannot judge a book by its cover."

Charm can be deceptive and physical beauty will not last, but a woman who reveres the Eternal should be praised above all others. (Proverbs 31:30 VOICE)

There is one trait which makes an individual absolutely irresistible and that would be the deep, truthful reverence of the Lord as the center of one's life.  The individual who makes Christ the most important part of their life may not always be the most extroverted, "in the lime-light", kind of person, but they are trustworthy, well-balanced, and overwhelmingly joyful at the core of their being. 

"Inner beauty" as some might refer to it is not something we "possess" as much as it is in being "possessed by another".  It is Jesus in control of our hearts which brings forth that inner beauty in ways others may not be able to resist!

When we focus on our inner beauty, the outer beauty is something which doesn't count on us wearing the latest of styles, having the most perfectly manicured nails, or even sporting the most flattering of hair styles.  Inner beauty begins to reflect in our actions - something which speaks much louder than any of the "outer adornments" we ever might pursue.  Inner beauty is what gives us true "charm" - that which has some "appeal" which cannot be denied.

There are times we spend more time and effort on what we consider to be the things which will "keep us young" or "make us attractive". Sadly, we ignore the most significant of actions we can ever take - spending time with Jesus, just nuzzled up to him, drawing from his strength, learning from his words, and taking in his peace.  Those moments do more to "build us up" than we might realize - changing our "sour disposition" into a much more "pleasing" disposition. What attracts us to people isn't their talent as much as their "disposition".  Our disposition is the dominant (prevailing) tendency of our spirit - some call it our "prevailing attitude".  Get the spirit aligned with Jesus and the "prevailing attitude" of our lives changes!

We may not think much about "charm", but if scripture records the "beauty" one might describe in an individual, we might just do well to consider the value of a "disposition" bent toward grace!  Just sayin!

Attitude adjustment required

I remember how I always found it easier to obey mom when she was watching me than it was when she was away for hours and I was "without supervision".  The TV would go on before homework was done; chores would be deferred in hopes of playing a little with my favorite toys or reading a good book.  In essence, I was being a little two-faced - behaving one way when I was under scrutiny and quite another when I was thinking no one would know.  The long and short of it was the outcome - the chores were done halfway and the homework just didn't measure up to the level it could have because I rushed through both! What I think would have been more "honoring" to my mother was if I had of worked even harder to obey the rules of doing homework and chores first!  I was being a kid - totally consumed with whatever distracted my attention the quickest!  This is kind of how we fall into temptation in our lives - we get distracted by what grabs our attention the quickest.  I wonder just how many stumbles we might just avoid if we didn't get so caught up in the distractions of life and followed a little closer to the idea of obeying even when not being watched?

My dear friends, you always obeyed when I was with you. Now that I am away, you should obey even more. So work with fear and trembling to discover what it really means to be saved. God is working in you to make you willing and able to obey him. Do everything without grumbling or arguing. Then you will be the pure and innocent children of God. You live among people who are crooked and evil, but you must not do anything that they can say is wrong. Try to shine as lights among the people of this world, as you hold firmly to the message that gives life. (Philippians 2:12-16 CEV)

Paul wants the followers of Christ to work to discover what it really means to be saved - to be redeemed from a former way of living and to really begin to live by the new life we have been given.  The truth is evident - we wage war with all manner of distracting desires while God is at work helping us to get to the place of being willing and able to obey him.  This is kind of good news if we really think about it because we aren't having to get to this place of continual obedience on our own.  Eventually, as I grew up a little, I did my chores before I went out to play.  It may have taken a while to learn the lesson, but today when I get up, I make my bed.  Not because I "have to" because no one really cares if I do or not.  I do it because I was "trained" to do so.  Mom expected this and in the course of time it became a priority for me.  I do it out of habit now - not so much to be obedient to mom, but because it is a pretty good thing to do!  Mom worked to get me to the place of being consistent in accomplishing this task - gently reminding me, even nudging me a little when I slacked off. In time, I developed the habit of obedience.  God isn't much different - he gently reminds us at first, nudges us when we need a little "push" in the right direction, and in time, we form the "habit of obedience".

How many times do we grumble or complain when we are asked to do something a little more difficult than we hoped for, or on a different time-scale from what we imagined for ourselves?  I find this is kind of frequent on occasion in my life - depending on how harried my life gets.  When demands are made of me which I just cannot seem to appreciate the urgency of, I kind of balk at them.  I even find myself complaining because the weight of these demand kind of "chafe" me a bit.  Obedience is made up of a couple of things - first it is the attitude which must be changed, then the behavior follows.  When attitude is reversed from seeing things as difficult and unattainable, it is amazing how much we can find the effort to take the necessary steps a little less burdensome!

I don't know about you, but I can speak for myself - I see a lot of grumbling and complaining in my daily experiences.  People don't like how things are working out.  Change comes and people resist it with deep conviction.  Effort has to be put into doing things we don't wan to do in the first place and this gets us flustered on a number of different levels.  Flustered people often complain about what it is they are going through - it is just a fact of life. I have come to accept the complaining as a sign they just aren't "there" yet.  They haven't made the attitude adjustment which will help them commit to the behaviors which will help them move on with the new "habit" they need to form.  I've been there and I know you have, too. 

What we do in those moments makes all the difference.  We can continue to wallow in our misery, interpreting life as unfair and just too challenging; or we can sit up and take notice of where it is we need a little "refocus" in life.  The challenges have become distractions which take us away from allowing God to make the attitude adjustments in us which will help us move on or into what God desires for us.  The quicker we allow God access to our attitudes, the quicker we adjust our focus.  The sooner our focus is adjusted, the easier it will be to take the first steps toward obedience in our lives.  When obedience becomes a habit, it doesn't matter if we are being watched or not - we will act the same because the attitude is not affected by who is "watching" us!  Just sayin!