Are you acquainted with the phrase “attitude adjustment”? I’m sure you are. We have experienced telling others they need an “attitude adjustment” or have had others, sometimes a person of authority, say it to us.
Although our first reaction is defensive, with a little thought we can all remember times we “copped an attitude” and someone was good enough to point it out. Left alone, a bad attitude can quickly build walls between people, even friends.
As Christians we are specifically instructed in Ephesians 4:23, “Be made new in the attitude of your minds.” Even more specific is Philippians 2:5 (NIV), “Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus.” Sound impossible? It should not, because of a truth that follows in 2:13, “God works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose.”
Face up to this reality: It is no sin to discover a bad attitude, but it is a sin to keep it. Too many of us like to excuse ourselves by saying we inherited our attitude from our parents or we are a product of our environment. We may have been influenced by the chief caregiver of our youth, but each of us decided what traits to dispense with and which ones to keep.
Our basic drive to manipulate others in order to have our way or get what we want kicked in, and we created our attitude. Even if you are “born again” and become a “new creature in Christ” (2 Corinthians 5:17) with new attitudes, the Devil will always tempt you to revert to “old attitudes” by reminding you that they were effective in getting your way. Don’t listen to that negative stuff. When you admit your bad attitude, admit it to God, also. Confess it!
Agree with God that you don’t need it in your life. If you can’t “get your way” by loving people unselfishly as Jesus did, you don’t need what you are after.
“O God, gently but firmly take our attitudes into your hands and remake
them to your Divine Plan for each of us. Thanks! Amen”
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