Mastering Attitudes

Mastering Attitudes

Philippians 4:8

1. The Consideration of Our Attitude.

We all probably know someone that has a bad attititude about life! Aren’t they annoying!

I still remember last year when I went to Washington D.C. on a Pastor’s tour of the Capital. At the airport standing in line to check in, I noticed that the man in front of me had tied mistletoe on his baggage. I kept thinking to myself, “Why”?

Finally I asked, “Sir is that mistletoe on your luggage?” He, “yes!” I said, I’ve never seen that before. Why do you do that?” He said, “So you can kiss your luggage good-bye one you give it to them!”

That’s a bad attititude…although it’s partly true sometimes!

You know, I’ve seen some faces that look like they should be on the cover of the Book of Lamentations! Let me ask… if you just inherited General Motors would you feel like someone would outlaw cars? Is the bird singing outside your window a buzzard?

Webster defines “attitude” as: a manner of acting, feeling or thinking that shows one’s disposition and mood.

This word attitude is used when flying an airplane. An “attitude indicator” shows the position of a plane with regards to the horizon.

An “attitude indicator” lets the pilot know when the nose of the plane is above or below the horizon.

You could say that the performance of a plane depends on its attitude! And that triggered my thinking. Doesn’t the attitude of an individual determine his or hers performance in life?

John Maxwell says, “Your attitude determines your altitude.”

The Example Jesus Gives Us: (Philippians 2:3-8)

· His attitude made him selfless. Vs. 3,4

· His attitude made him secure. Vs. 6,7

· His attitude made him submissive. Vs. 8

Philippians 2:5 “Your attitude should be the same that Jesus Christ had.” NLT

From these popular songs titles, which one best describes your “attitude indicator” today?

· “Make The World Go Away”

· “Rain Drops Keep Falling On My Head”

· “I Did It My Way”

· Oh’ What a Beautiful Morning”

2. The Foundation of Our Attitude.

Victor Frankl, a Jewish doctor who survived Hitler’s hellish chambers. The Nazi’s killed his family, beat him everyday, starved him, placed a permanent tattoo on his arm to always remind him of the imprisonment.

When the war was over Dr, Frankl was not bitter or broken because he never bowed his attitude to such lowness. He wrote in his book these incredible words, “Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of human freedoms, to choose one’s attitude in any given circumstance....”

The strength of any building is its foundation just as the strength of any attitude is its foundation!

After 9/11, for the longest time there was a makeshift sign hanging from the remains of the Twin Towers. It read, “The human spirit is not measured by the size of the act but the size of the heart.”

That’s the attitude that no terrorist can conquer! Why? One word – foundation!

4 Foundational Truths About One’s Attitude:

a. A child’s first years are the most important for the right attitudes.

I don’t think I have to convince you that from birth, we are already messed up! Before we take that first breath we are damaged goods!

I’ve heard some complained about raising children in today’s messed up world. They said…

The litter is unbearable, the sonic booms are incredible, the tuna isn’t edible, the diseases are incurable, the billboards are unspeakable, the slums are incurable, the smog is unendurable, the problems seem unsolvable, the people are unforgivable and life had become intolerable!”

Romans 5:12 “Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin and so death spread to all men, because all sinned.”

This is why parents have to take control of their child’s environment before the environment takes control over them! In those early developmental years, a child develops attitudes that quickly become as hard as cement.

Keep in mind that as parents we pass on certain attitudes to our children! As parents we must always take inventory of negative attitudes and get rid of them quickly!

Too many parents think that it’s the School’s job to train up their child! It’s starts in the HOME! Schools can’t even teach little Johnny how to read and write, how can someone think that a school can teach little Johnny how to live successfully?

Proverbs 22:6 “Train up a child in the way he should go and when he is old he will not depart from it.”

A father was trying to teach his son about a positive attitude when it came to his son’s math grade. The son said, “Dad, I think I’m going to flunk my math class.” Dad quickly responded, “Son, that’s very negative. Be more positive.”