It's your attitude

It’s Your AttitudePut on your new nature, and be renewed as you learn to know your Creator and become like him (Colossians 3:10, NLT).
It’s your attitude, so it’s your decision whether you want to keep it or not.

This was not good. I could feel the inside of me starting to boil and my face getting hot. And it wasn’t even a hot day! It was actually a very cold day in the middle of January, so it wasn’t the temperature that was causing me to overheat (and no, it wasn’t a hot flash, smarty-pants). I couldn’t blame it on a fever, because I was feeling fine physically.

No, the heat I was feeling was not related to my physical well-being; it was connected to my heart and soul. The embarrassing truth is that John had said something I didn’t agree with, and I’d made the decision to dwell on thoughts I shouldn’t have. Now I had an attitude of the wrong kind.

It wasn’t even caused by a big issue or a yelling fight (or should I say disagreement—I’ll admit we’ve had a few of those). In all honesty, I don’t even remember what I was frustrated about, and it was recent! But I do have a problem. It’s called prideful, selfish thinking. I like to be right and I like to win. So does John. Whoever said opposites attract was not at our wedding!

So on this day, just because I wanted John to agree with my opinion, I went from singing “Oh Happy Day” to wanting to throw a plate. Okay, that’s a bit of an exaggeration. Maybe.
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It all happened so quickly. In about five seconds flat, I allowed the thought of “I am right!” to transform into negative feelings and emotions, and I went from happy to angry. I made the decision to have a bad attitude, and the only thing that was going to change it was if and when John came to his senses and decided that I. Was. Right.

If you are human and breathing, you have probably experienced a plate-throwing mood. Maybe you are even in the middle of a bad-attitude day right now. It’s not too fun, is it? Thankfully there are ways to learn how to maintain a good attitude in life (besides persuading everyone to always give in to your opinion and do things your way).

Over the years, I have learned how to deal with my emotions and bad attitude more quickly and effectively than I did thirty years ago. So on that day in the middle of my confrontation with John, when my angry thoughts finally came up for air, I stopped and said a prayer. God, help me with these feelings.I know they are not of you and they are not what you desire for me. With his help, I made the decision to change my attitude right then and there. In an instant, as I humbled myself and purposefully changed my thinking, the burning and churning inside my soul began to subside. Now, don’t tell John I said this, but I still think I was right (even though I don’t remember what I was right about!). But that, my friend, is irrelevant. Instead of proving I was right, I chose to focus on adjusting my thinking and my attitude to line up with God’s will for me in that moment, and the overwhelming feelings of wanting John to see that I was right began to subside.

Years ago, when John and I were first married, God used a verse to help me in this “I want to always win and be right” struggle. This same verse came to my mind again that day. Many times these words have been the key to saving me from letting my attitude run wild and cause more damage to my day, my marriage, and my life.

Do nothing from fractional motives, [through contentiousness, strife, selfishness, or for unworthy ends] or prompted by conceit and empty arrogance. Instead, in the true spirit of humility (lowliness of mind) let each regard the others as better than and superior to himself [thinking more highly of one another than you do of yourselves]. Let each of you esteem and look upon and be concerned for not [merely] his own interests, but also each for the interests of others (Phillipians 2:3–4, AMP-CE, emphasis mine).

And don’t miss this:
Let this same attitude and purpose and [humble] mind be in you which was in Christ Jesus: [Let Him be your example of humility]
(verse 5, AMP-CE).

That verse convicts me every time. It hits me right where it hurts. That part about doing nothing out of fractional motives, selfishness, or unworthy ends (like wanting to win) makes me think God must have said, “Put that part in there just for Debbie. She’s going to need to read it pretty much once a week or more.” And my guess is that I am not alone on this one, that you have had your bad-attitude, stop-annoying-my-life moments too...read more

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Debbie Lindell is co-pastor with her husband, John, at James River Church in Ozark, MO. She is passionate about life and serving God with all her heart! Her greatest desire is to use her life to lead all who are watching her closer to Jesus, and to inspire every girl to believe what God’s Word says about them and His amazing plan and purpose for their life. Debbie loves to write, to give gifts, eat chocolate, drink lattes and play with her grandkids…..and of course, to hang out with the Sisterhood! This blog pos​t from Nov 3, 2016 was posted by Her Green Room, an online community for ministry wives and excerpted from She Believes: Embracing the Life You Were Created to Live, by Debbie Lindell. Published by Revell, a division of Baker Publishing Group, (http://www.bakerpublishinggroup.com). ©2016. Used by permission.

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