Attitude is Everything

Posted byEd LevyPosted in21 Things I Want to Tell My Sons, Blog Post, ChristianityTags:, , , , , ,

“Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves; do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others. Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men.“

(Philippians 2:3-7)

It is said that 90% of life is out of our control. All day life comes at us and all we can do is react. And most of the things that we can have a bad attitude about, we are going to have to do anyway, so we might as well enjoy it. The way to do this is to decide to have a good attitude. It turns out, that our attitude is one of the few things in our life that we can control. And our attitude affects everything that we do. Self control, controlling our emotions, having a positive attitude about life, having a good attitude about work. All of these things are under our control. And it is vital that you learn to control your emotions and maintain a positive attitude throughout your life (Prov 25:28). The passage above from Paul’s letter to the Philippians encourages us to adopt an attitude of caring concern for the people around us. It exhorts us to not merely look out for ourselves, but to also look out for others.

Jesus set the ultimate example, by laying aside His divinity to become a man and suffer death on the cross that we might have life. He gave up more than we could ever imagine and He did it for us. While He was here, He modeled a servant attitude and instructed us to follow Him in this when He washed the Disciples’ feet (John 13:5-20). We are also instructed to have a joyful attitude through God’s Spirit (Gal 5:22). So remember how important your attitude is. It colors your whole day. Ultimately it will color your life. Let your attitude be a positive force in your life. You will be happier, the people around you will be happier. Your life will have more impact. You will accomplish more. You will enjoy your life more. But it is a choice – so I urge you to decide to have a positive, godly attitude about life and maintain it all your days.

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“Choose you this day whom you will serve…..but as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD.”

Joshua 24:15

Published by Ed Levy

Growing up Jewish, the extent of my knowledge about Jesus and Christianity was limited to what was on the rock album "Jesus Christ Superstar". Becoming born again in college, that changed. Jesus showed up, and my life has never been the same. I thank God every day for bringing me into His kingdom, and write these blogs to remember what He has shown me, and to share them with my four sons and others. I owe much to several pastors who have strongly influenced me over the years, including Arnold Fruchtenbaum, Robert Lewis, John Ortberg, John Eldredge, and most recently Tim Keller and David Levine. Many of my blogs are the 'aha' moments that I have had over the years from listening to their sermons and reading their books, and I owe them a great debt of gratitude. My prayer for you is that you will be blessed by these writings, that God will become more real to you, and that your relationship with Him will become more profound as you grow in His grace.

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