George Sweeting, a former president and chancellor of Moody Bible Institute, in a sermon entitled “Attitude Makes the Difference,” related this story: “A Scotsman was an extremely hard worker and expected all the men under him to be the same. His men would tease him, ‘Scotty, don’t you know that Rome wasn’t built in a day?’ ‘Yes,’ he would answer, ‘I know that. But I wasn’t foreman on that job.’”
Attitude often does make all the difference and can very well be a “game changer.” Golda Meir, Israel’s fourth prime minister (1969-1974), said: “All my country has is spirit. We don’t have petroleum dollars. We don’t have mines or great wealth in the ground. We don’t have the support of a worldwide public opinion that looks favorably on us. All Israel has is the spirit of its people. And if the people lose their spirit, even the United States of America cannot save us.”
I attended a Christian Law Association meeting, conducted by David Gibbs, in Indianapolis in 1998. He illustrated the importance of having a healthy attitude by relating a story about himself and the late evangelist Lester Roloff of Corpus Christi, Texas, an independent Baptist evangelist who founded and operated a home for troubled youths. The ministry was badgered by the State of Texas for supposedly not meeting its requirements. Gibbs said, “We were up against a lawyer that hated Roloff, his church, and his ministry. I had put up with his profanity for three weeks when one day I showed up early in court (7 a.m.) to rehearse some things with Bro. Roloff. And there he was. We walked in, and Bro. Roloff walked up to him and said, ‘I just want you to know I’m praying for you. You could be a Paul for God. You’re tearing us up; I’m just praying you’ll get saved. I want you to go to heaven.’ Then, Roloff walked back to me, knowing how I felt, and said, ‘You can’t be Jesus’ lawyer with a spirit like that.’” Gibbs concluded his story: “That changed my life.” For the brilliant lawyer who has spent his life advocating for Christian causes, a few simple words from the heart of a farmer turned preacher—“You can’t be Jesus’ lawyer with a spirit (attitude) like that”—were a game-changer.
Life’s mundane tasks can be turned into sacred callings when they’re done in the right spirit. Christopher Wren, the great English architect, was directing the building of a massive, ornate cathedral when a passing journalist asked three workers the same question, “What are you doing?” The first said, “I am cutting stone for ten shillings a day.” The second replied, “I am putting ten hours a day of my life into this job.” The third answered, “I’m personally helping Sir Christopher Wren construct one of London’s great cathedrals.” Attitude was, for that worker, a game changer.
Pastor A.W. Tozer related that a simple-hearted man was once asked how he could manage to maintain a constant state of tranquility. He replied, “I have learned to cooperate with the inevitable.”
The key to a balanced life, someone has said, does not boil down so much as to what happens to us—bad things from time to time befall us all. The key is how we react to what happens to us. Paul encourages believers to “in every thing give thanks, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.” (I Thess.5:18)
“A woman woke up one morning and noticed she had just three hairs on her head, so she said, ‘I think I will braid my hair today.’ The next day, as she looked into the mirror in the morning, she noticed she had only two hairs on her head, so she said, ‘I am going to part my hair in the middle this morning.’ The following day, she found that she had only one hair on her head, so she said, ‘I think I will wear a pony-tail today.’ Finally, the following day she discovered there was not a single hair on her head, so she exclaimed, ‘I don’t have to fix my hair today!’” Well, she certainly kept a good attitude in all of it!
So, how’s your attitude today? We cannot always arrange things through each day to suit our preferences, but we can manage our response to everything that comes our way. We can “rejoice in the Lord alway” (Phil.4:6) or we can choose to complain, criticize, gripe about our circumstances, and lose opportunities to acknowledge that God’s compassions fail not, and His mercies are new every morning—so that we can ever exclaim, “Great is Thy faithfulness!” (Lamentations 3:22,23).
Go with the game-changer: keep in tune with God through the Holy Spirit as He produces the fruit the Spirit in your life, and you will have an attitude that is both advantageous and positively infectious!
“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance….”(Gal.5:22,23)
YOU and GOD 