Attitude

I recently come across this quote and was encouraged. :)

“The longer I live, the more I realize the impact of attitude on life. Attitude to me is more important than facts. It is more important than the past, than education, than money, than circumstances, than failures, than success, than what other people think or say or do. It is more important than appearance, gift, or skill. It will make or break a company…a church…a home. The remarkable thing is we have a choice every day regarding the attitude we will embrace for that day. We cannot change our past…we cannot change the fact that people will act in a certain way. We cannot change the inevitable. The only thing we can do is play on the string we have, and that is our attitude. I am convinced that life is 10 percent what happens to me and 90 percent how I react to it. And so it is with you… we are in charge of our attitudes.” - Charles Swindoll

We all go through things that shape our lives if we let them, but I believe that the true shaping of Godly character is in how we react to challenging circumstances. None of us are perfect, but it all honesty like this quote states, our right attitude is what can get us through any circumstance. So what should that attitude be? Well, as a Christian, the Bible says it should be that of Christ Jesus. Christ was humble and obedient to his Father. The Bible Exposition Commentary sums up humility as accepting and being your best self for God’s glory and nothing else. When blessings come, we are to be humble and grateful, giving it all back to the Lord and praising Him with a thankful heart for all that He has done. Accepting a difficult circumstance can be hard, and choosing joy can be a challenge, but we must choose joy for it is His strength that carries us through! (Nehemiah 8:10). With God’s grace and love, we can persevere through it and it will perfect our faith (James 1:2-4). If we choose to put our dependence on Him knowing that He is faithful to help us and carry us through, (Isaiah 41:10), it will keep our attitude in check. We may not know why we go through certain things, but if our attitude is as a humble servant for the Lord, being thankful in ALL things and giving Him praise, He is going to use us, grow us, and teach us through any circumstance – what a joy that is!!

Philippians 2:5-11
"Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death— even death on a cross! Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father."

Ephesians 4:2
"Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love."

Romans 5:2-4
"Through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope."

Hebrews 12:2
“Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.”