"Strengthening Our Grip On Attitudes
" (4th message in a 5-part sermon series) Sermon Transcript for October 21, 2001 By Rev. Mike BeckScripture Reading: Philippians 4:4-8
Dr. Victor Frankl in the early 1940’s was taken captive by the Nazis. They killed every member of his family. They took his every possession, including his wedding ring. They shaved his head. But as he stood before the glaring lights in a Gestapo courtroom stripped completely naked and humiliated, he realized that there was one thing Hitler’s SS troops couldn’t take away from him. And that was his choice of attitude. He survived the concentration camps; and he went on to write a classic book, Man’s Search for Meaning. Attitude made all the difference!
In the summer of 1967, on a barge about 50 yards out from the shoreline, an attractive young woman dived into the murky waters of the Chesapeake Bay. One problem—the water was much, much more shallow than she expected; and she hit her head on a rock. And in an instant this beautiful young woman was paralyzed for life from the neck down. She later shared that it took almost three years for God to re-shape her attitude on her radically–altered life. But, she became a songwriter. She became an artist putting the paintbrush between her teeth. She’s a sought after speaker. She latter married. I listen to her sometimes on the morning on Moody Christian Radio. Some of you know who I’m talking about – Joni Eareckson Tada. And her life is a witness to the critical importance of attitude.
I believe that life is 10% what happens "to us" and 90% what we choose to have happen "in us" as a response to those events. I like to be around people with a positive attitude. I laughingly told Liz White, I didn’t tell Bev Bonsett, I said, "You know I’m preaching this Sunday on attitude and I really think I ought to have the two of you to stand up here and you could be Exhibit A and B of what a positive attitude for life is all about." I usually try to avoid people who don’t have a good attitude. And no doubt you can bring to mind persons who you know as I make these observations. Some persons are incredibly blessed and yet they are constantly complaining. And others have incredible problems and little of life’s material blessings and yet they are upbeat and contented and happy. Attitude! To some persons, the glass of life is half-full. To other people, it’s half empty. Attitude! Some persons look at opportunities and see problems. Other persons look at problems and see opportunities and possibilities. Attitude!
Attitude, friends, is more important than facts. It’s more important than education. It’s more important than circumstances. It’s more important than giftedness and skill. Attitude can make or break a home. Attitude can cause a church to soar or sink. And there is one underlying principle we must realize: that although we may have very little control over the circumstances of life, we do have control over the attitude that we choose to bring to those circumstances.
I want to quickly point out three things that I believe are "attitude killers".
Self-pity: Now, granted, life is extremely difficult for many persons. I think it was M. Scott Peck, in his book, The Road Less Traveled, his first three words, "Life is hard." And he said the step to a positive life is to first of all realize that life’s going to be hard. So life is very difficult for some persons. We acknowledge that. But yet some folks approach their difficulties with a "woe is me" attitude and they turn inward on life. And in their conversations, you can’t get a word in edgewise because they’re always talking about themselves and their problems. And you know one thing I’ve observed, those persons often complain about having few friends. But the reason is, they’ve worn out their friends with their self-pity. Self-pity will kill you. Attitude!
BITTERNESS: Bitterness is an attitude killer. There’s another fact of life that we may not want to accept, but realizing it puts us on the road to healthier living. That fact is this – life is often unfair. Life is often unfair. But the person who becomes bitter has allowed the unfair events of life to consume their thinking. Their focus is on the past, the unfair things that have occurred to them, and the last I checked, there’s not a thing they can do to change it. But they let all their energy be focused there instead of embracing the present moment of which they do have some control. And I think it is worth noting, there is a first cousin to bitterness; the two often go together. It’s unforgiveness. Bitterness and unforgiveness are normally first cousins of each other.
BLAME: A third attitude killer is blame. And blame can go in one of three directions. Sometimes it goes to God. I’ve always said, "If you’ve got to blame somebody, blame God. He’s the biggest one around; he’s the best prepared to take it." We can blame others. I really appreciated…boy, I hope the Colts play better today…but, Manning wasn’t very good last week; but boy early in the week Manning said, "I take responsibility. The blame for those missed passes is not the receivers, it’s me." But so often we blame others. Or maybe the most difficult and harmful form of blame is blaming ourselves. It’s why in our beginning prayer this morning I first asked you to confess your sins, but then I asked you to visualize walking away and leaving them there. Some persons have ruined their lives by blaming themselves for things that they have no power to go back now and change instead of getting on with their life. Blame never heals; it hurts. Blame never makes people whole; it fragments. Blame never affirms; it attacks. It never solves, it complicates. It doesn’t unite; it divides. Blame destroys any hope for moving on to the future. Rather than moving on and investing energy in the future, the person who blames others, and you can bring this to mind, think about your car, think about being in the snowstorm or in the mud. What a person does who blames others, they just sit there and spin the wheels and the rut just keeps getting deeper and deeper and deeper.
Now before I go on to give you some ways we can strengthen our grip on attitudes, I want to say this. Persons with the best of attitudes periodically have some bad days. You know, the person who really drives me up a wall is the person that’s always smiling, happy, laughing. And I want to say, "What world are you living in or what are you smoking?" So I want us all to relax and realize that even if we’ve got the best of attitudes, we’ll have some bad days. If you don’t believe that, talk to my wife after the service.
But the passage we read from Philippians 4 gives us four very simple ways that we can improve our attitude and I want to share them with you.
1. Rejoice in the Lord: Verse 4 says, "Rejoice in the Lord always." And Paul thought it was so important, that he repeated it. He says, "I will say it again, rejoice!" Now I’m going to give you an English lesson. I want you to notice the object of the rejoicing. Look at the sentence. We’re to rejoice in the Lord. There are a lot of circumstances in life that we can’t rejoice in. But in the midst of the horrible circumstances, we can still rejoice in the Lord. I heard on the radio this week, a pastor talking about the therapy of praise. And he said, "If you read your Bible from Genesis to Revelation, we’re told to praise the Lord over and over again." Now, follow the connection. You see, when we rejoice and turn our attention to the Lord in praise, we are turning to the One who can give us the courage and the strength and the power to deal with the circumstances we’re facing. And I don’t have time to develop it, but in this light I want to stress the value of humor. We’ve got to learn how to laugh at ourselves. We’ve got to learn how to laugh with others. Mickey and I last night watched again the movie, "Patch Adams". If you saw that movie, the value of humor, the therapy of that. You may have heard me say before, but Susie Austin Evans who just had incredible burdens to bear taught me one of the greatest lessons of life one day when I said, "Susie, how do you keep going with all the stuff you’ve got going on in your life?" And she said, "Reverend Mike, you can never ever lose your sense of humor. If you lose your sense of humor, you’re done." Rejoice in the Lord!
- Be aware of God’s presence
: Verse 5. "Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near." The Lord is near. It’s so simple; but it’s so profound! And one of the things that’s helpful to me to be aware that God is with me, is music--the hymns, choruses, putting on a CD or tape of Christian music, listening to Christian radio. For me, and I’m sure for many of you as well, it helps me be aware of God’s presence. When life gets confusing, I still remember that little chorus from our 50-Day Spiritual Adventure a few years ago, "God will make a way where there seems to be no way. He works in ways we cannot see. He will make a way for me. He will be my guide. He’ll draw me closely to His side. With love and strength for each new day, God will make a way." I remember that because of the chorus I learned. The Christian realizes that we do not face life alone—that God is with us. And knowing that reality is a great attitude-enhancer.- Give your worries to God
: Will you read these words with me. Verses 6-7. "Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus." Now, does that mean that a Christian never worries? Not unless you’re living on a different planet than I am. Not unless you’ve taken a triple dosage of valium! Maybe then you won’t worry. But excessive worry robs us of the joys of today and will destroy a positive outlook on life. God wants you to follow His instructions in I Peter 5:7, "Cast all your cares upon Him, for He careth for you." We’re naturally concerned at times, but we need to acknowledge how much of our energy and resources we waste worrying about things that will probably never happen. You may have heard of the lady who said, "Well, my worry must have done some good because 98% of the things I worry about never happen." But what did she give away in resources worrying about those things? And I want you to note in the last part there in Verse 7 what God wants to put in the place of worry. He wants to give you His peace. And it says, I’m going to "…guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus." And when I think of that verse, I think about the tomb of the Unknown Soldier. And I try to bring to mind that guard walking back and forth across the tomb and I want to claim the promise, when I’m concerned, that God will guard my heart and mind.4. Focus on those things that bring you closer to God: We talked about that a couple of weeks ago. For you see, attitude begins in our minds. And then it is expressed in our actions. In verse 8, "Whatever is true, noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent or praiseworthy…think about such things." You’ve heard me say before, it’s so true, "Whatever gets your attention, ultimately gets you." Whatever gets your attention ultimately gets you. You’ve heard me use this illustration, but many of you haven’t. It’s the best one I know about attitude. It’s the true story of a gifted concert violinist, Nicholi Paganini, who was playing in one of the great concert halls in Europe and one of his strings broke. And there was a little gasp from the audience, but he continued to play on three. And then another string broke. And then there was a bigger gasp and a lot of people thought he would surely stop, but he kept right on playing on two. And then a third string broke. And now the audience is sure he will quit, but he finishes out his concerto on one string. And he receives a resounding standing ovation. And then when he was asked afterwards, "How could you keep on playing when you had three strings broken?" He simply said, "I chose to focus on the one I had left instead of the three that I had lost." And that’s the key to attitude.
For some of you life is really tough. I’m looking at some folks that life is tougher for them than it’s ever been. Hilda, you and Dudley, my heart goes out to you now. You’re one of the saints of this church, but life is incredibly hard for you right now. And I’d love to be able to wave a magic wand and change that. But I can’t do that. But I can point each and every one of you to a God who through His grace says He can make us more than conquerors in our circumstances. The rest of your life stretches out before you. It may be six months, it may be six years, it may be sixty years. I know this, your attitude will make all the difference in the quality of whatever time you’ve got left and in your witness for Jesus Christ. You’ve got a choice to make every morning you get up. You can’t control the circumstances, but you are in control of the attitude you choose to bring to that day. Learn to rejoice in the Lord. Be aware that God is with you. Let your worries be replaced with God’s peace and focus on those things that will draw you closer to God. You may have only one string remaining, by golly play that string with as beautiful melody as you can play to the glory of God! And your ability to do that will be determined by your attitude!
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