ATTITUDE IS EVERYTHING

"You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness." - Ephesians 4:22-24

It has continually been my prayer that people (myself among all included) would be both blessed and convicted by my attempt to convey the truth of God's word and His purpose for our lives.  What I do is not anything new; I don't claim to come up with new ideas or revelation, special interpretations or postmodern gimmicks.  In the words of Graham Nash, "I am a simple man, so I sing a simple song."  Though my song is more of a message of truth and hope, those lyrics stand true for me and the life that I have lived and am living.  So, with that in mind, I share my heart with words that currently flow through my heart and out the tips of my fingers and onto this page.

It is my never-failing hope that we consistently allow Christ to change those things in our life that are sinful and repulsive in the eyes of God. Those are words we don’t like to hear, but it’s true. Our sins are repulsive and gross. From slipping a curse word to lying, to pornography and adultery, regardless of what it is, it repulses God and separates him from us. We must actively be pursuing our relationship with Christ.

You see, whether we believe it or not we all need to make some changes. Everyone has something in their life that needs to change. When it comes to change, we have an easy time identifying and wanting it. But making it happen is something else entirely. Simply put, we can’t change. Not on our own at least. We need help, direction and hope if we’re going to really make change in our lives.

It is a fact that whatever a person allows to occupy his mind will sooner or later determine his speech and his actions. This is the premise behind Philippians 4:8 and Colossians 3:2,5: establishing wholesome thought patterns. 2Corinthians 10:5 says we should "take captive every thought and make it obedient to Christ." What it is saying is that our attitude (assuming in Christ) is the beacon by which our life is lived, therefore, our attitude should be subject to Christ’s standards.

A sour and bitter attitude was never God’s plan for our life. That sounds a bit like Osteenism, but stay with me.  For some reason our attitude has the dangerous ability to keep us from experiencing the most out of life. For some, God has withheld his blessing because of our refusal to change. Our perspective in life will always reflect our attitude towards this world.  Our decision making will be shaped by our attitude towards the moral and ethical values laid out in scripture.  One of the most important keys to change is the ability to make proper decision that not only effect us now but have eternal significance.  All these things are determined by our attitude and if we are ever to be changed and transformed into God’s loving and enduring people, change in life must be constant, and our attitude must be determined by those things that we see as Godly, Christ-like and Eternal.