How To Have A Winning Attitude: No Thermometers!

You’ve probably heard the phrase “he has a winning attitude,” but, what does that really mean? Is it the power of positive thinking? The other day, I saw a post on Facebook and I began thinking about what a winning attitude looks like. The quote was:

“Don’t confuse my personality with my attitude. My personality is who I am. My attitude depends upon who you are.”

Is that a winning attitude? My first thought when I read this was, “that’s crazy!” But my next thought was the acknowledgement that I, too, have fallen into the trap of believing it’s okay for my attitude to be like a thermometer—changing based upon who I’m around and how they treat me. But the thermometer-life does not produce victory because we’re constantly waylaid by our changing attitude. Instead we’re enslaved and robbed of the victorious joy that God intends for us to experience in His presence. We are believing the lies of our enemies that others can ruin our day and make us have a bad attitude.

The truth is, if we are born again, our attitude does NOT have to be controlled by anyone else!

If we belong to God. We are NOT slaves to the people who have rejected Him. Now, don’t get me wrong—there’s no doubt the struggle is real. I can sure get an icy edge, become belligerent, testy, sad, sour, critical, nasty, etc., around some folks. I’m sure if you think for more than 5 seconds, you can name a few who provoke ugliness in you too. And there is no doubt—it’s very easy to develop the same ugly attitude as the person you’re around! But… 

OUR attitude is OUR choice and if we are born again, we have the Spirit of God living in us and HE gives us the power to live in HIS Spirit because we are no longer subject to control by our enemies.

Instead of having an environmentally controlled attitude, we can have a Holy Spirit controlled attitude. Our life is reflected by the experience of God’s love for us. To quote from this devotional, our attitude flows from the experience of a love that…

• endures hardship and unkindness with patience, humility, and peace. 
• seeks to be kind and thoughtful even to those who are unkind and unthoughtful.
• is not jealous or envious of the good things of others; in fact, prays for God’s goodness to those who are unkind to us.
• does not brag and is not proud or arrogant; but rather is constantly giving glory to God and credit to others. 
• is not rude; but rather, uses a soft answer and kind words—even when presenting hard truths.
• is not self-seeking; but rather seeks to benefit others.
• is not easily provoked; [and not overly sensitive, easily angered, or offended] because the sting of provoking behavior does not and cannot defeat love.
• does not take into account the wrongs endured. It doesn’t keep score because scorekeeping results in unforgiveness and a loss of the presence of God, who IS love. It does not store up the memory of any wrong it has received; it does not cling to the hurts of the past. It never presumes a good action may have a bad motive.
• does not rejoice in injustice to anyone, including those who have wronged them.
• rejoices in the triumphs of the truth of God and His great goodness—both for His glory and for the salvation of souls. 
• bears ALL things because it is unchanged by ANYTHING, including difficult circumstances. Love denies herself, sacrifices herself, all for the glory of God.
• believes that all things can be worked for good to the glory of God.
• hopes in all things because God [not things or people] is the primary source of hope and He never changes.
• endures all things without wavering or weakening because love’s strength—flows from God the Giver of strength.
• never fails because God never fails.

Jesus gives us the power to live with this extraordinary kind of loving attitude. 

A loving attitude is a winning attitude because God is love and—HE wins.

God is serious about love and He expects us to be serious about it too. Jesus DIED in love so we could LIVE in love. “For God so loved the world, He GAVE His only Son that whosoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.” (John 3:16) The Bible commands us to love because Jesus gives us the power to love: 

“Finally, all of you be of one mind, having compassion for one another; love as brothers, be tenderhearted, be courteous; not returning evil for evil or reviling for reviling, but on the contrary blessing, knowing that you were called to this, that you may inherit a blessing. 

For ‘He who would love life and see good days, let him refrain his tongue from evil, and his lips from speaking deceit. Let him turn away from evil and do good; let him seek peace and pursue it. For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, and His ears are open to their prayers; but the face of the Lord is against those who do evil’.”

1 Peter‬ ‭3‬:‭8‬-‭12‬ ‭NKJV

The Bible commands us to love because—it is good for us. It places us in a posture where our Heavenly Father’s eyes and ears are listening to us instead of being opposed to us. Conversely, if we CHOOSE to have a stinky attitude—we are setting ourselves AGAINST God.

When we choose a bad attitude, we are only hurting ourselves.

However, when we stay close to God, it is amazing to see the responses He comes up with in the face of ugliness. If you know ahead of time that you’ll be around a difficult person, ask God to prepare your heart. He is faithful. 

My friend, when you experience the joy of God’s presence, any small satisfaction you gain from a bad attitude isn’t worth the sacrifice of forfeiting His love, wisdom, strength, and peace!

We would love to hear your thoughts about this devotional. Did God speak to you or challenge your daily walk with him? Or is there a topic that you would like Kimberly to cover or expound on? Please share with us in the comments below.

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