What is an attitude?

What is an attitude?  It is an inward feeling—a way of thinking—that is expressed by our behavior.  It is often displayed in our body language, the expression on our faces, and it certainly can be contagious!  It describes what will determine our happiness, acceptance, peace and success…attitude. 

What we think and how we think determines our attitude, so we must always keep our thinking in mind.  Does your thinking bring you up, or does it bring you down?  And how is it we are discussing attitude, as we near the completion of our study of the book of Romans?  Paul charges the Christians in Rome with, ‘do not be conformed to the world around you’.  Do not be conformed to the Roman culture of excess, lasciviousness, pride, and general disregard for anything Christian…bearing in mind that the Roman government endorsed and carried out harsh persecution of professing Christians.  Instead, be transformed…be changed, be different…through the renewing of your mind.1 

Think well.  When we think well, we have a good attitude—beginning with an attitude of humility, which means we have a right view of ourselves in relation to God and to others.  When we think well, we have a positive outlook toward the gift of life we have received, and we enjoy living life fully.  After all, Jesus told us that he gave to give life—the abundant life!2  When we think well, we have a sense of overwhelming gratitude for our faith of Christian grace, and when we think well, we have an ability to live well in the moment.  The last seems so easy, but I find that friends are oft so mentally pre-occupied, they miss the opportunity of seizing the day.  If not thinking of other things, like what they must get done, what their children are doing, or what they should be doing, they have set up a waiting game for themselves, which keeps them from realizing that ‘this is the day the Lord has made; we will rejoice and be glad in it.’3

Friends, we will not know joy if we are always waiting for something to happen… we will not know contentment when we find ourself thinking, ‘well, I could be happy if only this or that would happen’—like, IF I got that job promotion, IF I met Mr. Right, IF I got my advanced degree, IF I could just lose 10 pounds, IF I could just get out of pain . . . Joy is found in the present, for it is all we have.  The past is gone, and who knows about the future?  Only God.

When we started our study of Romans 12.1-2, (back on July 28 . . . If you would like to revisit any of these teachings, you can go to www.pastorwoman.com, click on Bible teaching, then Morning Briefings, and then “Romans”, and scroll down to the first lesson on the 28^th.  All of the teaching on Romans is archived on the website as well as many, many Morning Briefings from various New Testament books.  You can read or listen via podcast-), I suggested that to be transformed rather than conformed--stuck in the world’s mold--is to participate in a trifecta—>your desire to become like Jesus, combined with the Word of God, and the working of the Holy Spirit.

What is an attitude?

It is the “advance man” of our true selves.

Its roots are inward but its fruit is outward.

It is our best friend or our worst enemy.

It is more honest and more consistent than our words.

It is an outward look based on past experiences. 

It is a thing that draws people to us or repels them.

It is never content until it is expressed.

It is the librarian of our past.

It is the speaker of our present.

It is the prophet of our future.4

Attitude … let’s go after a great one!  Yes, let’s embrace and then embody a God-honoring attitude, what do you say?

Christine