Keeping the Zing in Life
Maintaining a Positive Influence and Attitude
Philippians 4:4-9
I learned by the example of my father that a negative attitude brings grief to the family. My dad gave rarely carried on a conversation around the house. What he did say was usually negative. At the supper table we would all start supper seated around the table. There was always something wrong with the food – the gravy’s too thick, the meat is too burned. If I happened to put my arm on the table – “wham bam” my dad will hit my arm and say “get your arm off the table.” For many means my mother would leave the table with an upset stomach. My sister often would also excuse herself. I would eat fast and get out of the house.
I vowed that when I had a family I would try to communicate my love. I never heard my dad tell my mother their entire married life “ I love you.” She died at the age of 62 of a stroke and heart disease. My dad was 5 years older than my mother and several years after her death at age of 68 my dad finally came to faith in the Lord and was baptized.
I did my best to make my influence on our four children a positive one. I played tennis with them. We went to the park and I went to hundreds of little league games.
While planting the church in Taylor, Michigan – 1968-1980 I made it a practice to take one of our children out every week to eat at the restaurant of their choice. We started out at McDonalds and Burger King and then Big Boy, Beef Eater and Red Lobster.
Philippians 4:4-8 the Apostle Paul encourages us to
Focus on the Positive Things in Life
Many people have experienced great accomplishments later in life . Vanderbilt constructed most of his railroads after he was 70 years old. Michelangelo sculptured masterfully at eighty-nine. Monet painted his best pictures after he was eighty-five. Harlan Sanders, The Colonel of Kentucky Fried Chicken fame started the business after he was sixty-five. Tennyson was 83 when he penned: “Crossing the Bar.”
Instead of thinking, “I’m over the hill and I can’t do anything,” you can say, “I’m still a person of possibilities and I will try to use them.”
You can practice positive thinking.
1) When you face a problem, ask, “How will I overcome it.”
2) Say “thanks” for happenings in your life. You don’t give thanks for everything that happens to you, but in everything you can give thanks.
3) Start saying “thanks” for little things.
4) Think on the happier side. Gloomites can kill.
5) When you tend to wallow in self-pity, do something good for someone or say some kind word to someone quick.
Do you believe what Browning says in the poem, “Rabbi Ben Ezra?”
Grow old alone with me,
The best is yet to be.
A lady was asked what she thought of Browning’s statement. She said, “I keep five different medical specialists busy. When I think of that statement – maybe Browning overstated it a little. Old age is not for sissies.” When with a twinkle in her eye she said, “I’ll tell you one thing, I’d rather spend these years with a man who said, “Come grow old with me, the best is yet to be; than with some old crotchety old fellow who can only sit by the window and curse his fate.”
There are some people who are so pessimistic they won’t even buy green bananas.
I heard the story about two farmers who often went hunting together. One farmer got a new bird dog. He asked his neighbor if he had seen his new bird dog in the pen behind his farmhouse. The neighbor said yes he had seen the mangy dog and he didn’t think the dog would make a good hunting dog.
The two went duck hunting. They both shot a duck. The pessimistic hunter sent his dog after his duck and the dog swam out and quickly swam back with the duck and laid it as his feet. He said, “See how well trained my dog is, let’s see if your new dog can do as well.” The other father sent his dog after the other duck and the dog walked on the water picked up the duck and walked back on the water much quicker than the other bird dog. The farmer asked; “Well, what do you think of my new bird dog?” Ummmm. “He can’t swim can he?”
When you focus on the positive side of life you make choices to look on the bright side.
#Henry J. Kaiser was building a levee along a riverbank. During the night a great storm came up and flooded the area and buried all his earth-moving machinery and destroyed the work that had been done. When he surveyed the situation he found his workman standing around glumly looking at the mud anda the buried machinery.
He walked up to them and said: “Why are you so glum?” “Don’t you see what has happened?” they asked. “Our machinery is covered with mud.”
“What mud?” He asked brightly.”
“What mud!” they repeated in astonishment. “Look around you. It’s a sea of mud.”
“Oh,” he laughed, “I don’t see any mud.” I’m looking up at a clear blue sky, and there is no mud up there. There is only sunshine. Soon it will be dried up and then we will be able to move the machinery and start all over again.”
You can focus on the positive things I life by
1) Not taking yourself too seriously.
2) Don’t take things to seriously.
3) Relax a little every day.
You can learn to focus on the future with a positive attitude
We can make it part of our lifestyle to practice Philippians 4:8.
With the Apostle Paul we can also keep our focus on the future – Philippians 3:12-14. Paul was determined that as long as he lived he would be on the stretch for God.
To focus on the future means to “forget what is behind and strain toward what is ahead…”
Paul had much to forget. He could have lived with regret his entire life. He regretted leading in the stoning of Stephen, a lay minister and devout follower of Jesus. He regretted causing havoc to the church of Jesus Christ.
Paul may have dealt with bitterness. He may have been bitter for being lead astray by Pharisees and Jewish scholars for not telling him the truth about the Messiah.
Bitterness is unresolved anger turned inward. Bitterness becomes hate. Hate toward someone that has wronged you. Bitterness is the opposite of sweetness. Instead of sweetening everything in life, it sours everything in life.
It is only by the grace and mercy of God that you can forget the past. You may have had experiences in the past that caused you deep hurts. You may have been abused, experienced injustices, bitterness, hatred, and rejection by those you love. Forgetting- and the healing of memories only come from the grace and love of God.
With a little motivation all of us can make changes in the way we think and in our attitude.
#A man took a short cut through a cemetery on a dark black night. He was drunk and in the darkness stumbled into a freshly dug grace. At first he tried to get out, but then, in his drunken stupor, he sat down in one corner of the grave and went to sleep.
A little later, a young man, who had just taken his girl friend home, decided to take a shortcut through the cemetery. As he was running along, he fell with a thud into the same hole. Scared to death, he picked himself up and desperately started trying to climb out of the grave. When he couldn’t claw his way out he really panicked. He started crying out: “Help, Help!” “I can’t get out, I can’t get out.”
At that point the old drunk in the corner work up and shuffled over to the young man and said, “No, you can’t get out.”
And guess what? He did! He was motivated to change his circumstance.
You can make a positive influence by
1. Focusing on the positive things in life
2. Focusing on the future and
By
3. Living with a servant’s heart
The Apostle Paul declares that a person with a winning attitude has a servant’s heart. (Philippians 2:1-13 Message)
Jesus is our model for servant leadership. He humbled himself and took on the form of man. He who was highly exalted in heaven, the creator of the universe, became a human with flesh and blood. Jesus felt pain. Jesus felt anger. Jesus felt sorrow. Jesus said, “For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.”
Jesus did not come as a superstar; he came as a lowly carpenter. He came not be served, he came to serve and give his life as a ransom for many. (Mark 10:45)
Jesus demonstrated servant-hood by assuming the role of a servant. On the occasion of the Last Supper the disciples gathered into a room prepared for the supper. The first disciple came in and looked for the foot washer to wash his dirty feet. No servant, foot washer was around. He was not about to wash his own feet so he took his place at the table. The other disciples came in and noticed that all the other disciples had dirty feet so they all took their place at the table. Jesus came in and reclined at the table. “Surely one of his disciples would wash the feet of the Master.” No one moved. Jesus took on the role of a foot-washer, servant and took the water basin and towel and one by one washed the disciples dirty smelly feet.
When Jesus was finished he said: “I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you.” (John 13:15)
You can maintain a positive influence by also
Practicing the Praise Principle
The Apostle Paul throughout his life practiced the “Praise Principle.” Phil. 4:4 “Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again, Rejoice.”
Which of these four songs reveals your attitude toward life?
1). “Make the World Go Away.”
2). “Raindrops Keep Falling on my Head.”
3). “I Did it My Way.”
4). “Oh, What a Beautiful Morning.”
Paul practiced the praise principle even when confined to a prison. He looked beyond his confinement, beyond lonely nights, and beyond hardships. He said to Philippian Christians praying for him: “Don’t feel sad for me. Praise the Lord because what has happened to me has really served to advance the gospel. The Roman guards have heard the good news of the Gospel. Jesus is changing lives.” (Phil. 1:12-14)
Do you ever think the Apostle Paul got discouraged? Sure he did. While confined to prison Paul mentions many friends that came to him and gave him comfort and encouragement. His friends kept him encouraged in his service for the Lord. The best leaders have times of discouragement. They key is to not stay down in the pit of despair.
When life kicks you let it kick you upward and forward.
Why not try practicing saying positive words to everyone you meet? Positive words build people up and create a creative loving, positive atmosphere. When you speak critical, negative words you create suspicion, mistrust and an attitude of failure. The Proverb writer wrote: “A cheerful heart is good medicine, but a downcast spirit dries the bones.” (Prov. 17:22)
An older pastor’s wife was known for her ability to make positive comments about every facet of her husband’s Florida ministry. The church choir, however consisting as it did of seniors in their 70’s and 80’s, had defied positive truthful comment.
She finally solved the problem one Sunday morning. As the choir members filed into the choir loft, she leaned over to the choir director and remarked: “Aren’t they walking well this morning?”
Surround yourself with positive people. When you surround yourself with positive praying people you can turn obstacles into opportunities. Because Paul had people praying for him and encouraging him he could write: “WE are pressed on every side by troubles, but not crushed and broken. We are perplexed because we don’t know why things happen as they do, but we don’t give up and quit. We are hunted down, but God never abandons us. We get knocked down, but we get up again and keep going.” (2 Cor. 4:8-9)
Let’s make it a point to build up those around us – in our family, at church, our children and grandchildren.
Let’s keep the ZING in our life by using our Influence in positive ways.
Focus on the positive things in life.
Focus on the future – (Like the man who turned 99 and took out a 3 year newspaper subscription)
Live with a servant’s heart
Surround yourself with positive people
