Do you have an attitude?
Everyone has an attitude! The only question is…what kind of attitude? Is it positive or negative? A good attitude or a bad attitude? Proactive or reactive? Optimistic or pessimistic? Determined or a don’t care attitude? What kind of attitude do you have?
At the risk of oversimplification, I contend the following statement is absolutely true: ATTITUDE IS EVERYTHING! You’ve heard it a million times…but it is true! Attitude influences every aspect of your life. It is your greatest asset or greatest liability. Attitude makes or breaks you. I cannot overstate the importance of a positive attitude, especially among saints of God.
Did Jesus have an attitude? “Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.” (Philippians 2:5-8, KJV) Another translation renders verse 5 as follows: “You must have the same attitude [emphasis mine] that Christ Jesus had.” (Philippians 2:5, NLT) Nearly every translation except the King James Version renders the word ‘mind’ as ‘attitude’. How does your attitude compare to Jesus Christ? Scripture is clear we ‘must’ have the same attitude He had!
Attitude is defined as an inward feeling expressed by behavior. Nothing determines your destiny more than your attitude. Attitude trumps everything else. Science has documented the importance of attitude. Dr. Martin Seligman, in his groundbreaking book, Learned Optimism discovered that attitude was a better predictor of success than IQ, grade point average, or almost any other factor. He found that negative people get sick more often, are divorced more frequently, and raise kids who get in more trouble. Negative people even make less money. Your attitude will defeat you faster than any problem you will ever have!
The best factor regarding attitude is: you get to choose your attitude! Your attitude is one of the few things in life that YOU and only YOU get to choose. Although there are many things in life you do not get to choose, you get to choose your attitude and no one else can choose it for you!
The old cliché remains true: ‘Your attitude will determine your altitude!’ This is more than a trite leadership axiom. It’s also a scientific fact. We’re all familiar with the term altitude, from the field of aeronautics. Altitude is the height or elevation of a thing above a reference level, especially above sea level or above the earth's surface. You may be unaware that another aeronautics term is attitude: the position of an aircraft determined by the relationship between its axes and a reference point (the horizon). Attitude is the pitch, the angle, the direction, while altitude is the heighth, the elevation! The direction of the attitude determines the altitude. Aircraft actually have an attitude guage on the dash!
Our attitudes are merely a product of our thoughts. Solomon declared “For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he….” (Proverbs 23:7, KJV) Paul shared his thoughts by saying, “I think myself happy, King Agrippa….” (Acts 26:2, KJV) Abraham Lincoln said ‘People are about as happy as they make up their minds to be.’ You have an attitude and your attitude is speaking volumes about you. What is your attitude saying about you? How does it match up with Jesus Christ?
