The right attitude

Luke 23

It is easy for some people to always have the glass half full mentality. I can do that most of the time but if I am tired or simply worn thin a bit it can be nearly impossible to maintain a good attitude. I can’t imagine what the two thieves were going through on their crosses. They were simple human beings who were getting Roman justice meted out to them. They had not been beaten as severely as Jesus, yet the nails though their hands and feet were just as real. I don’t blame them for being mean, resentful, and vengeful. They were tired, had extreme blood loss, and were in intense pain. Yet their attitude made the literal difference between heaven and hell.

All of us go through stuff. Sometimes it may feel like a crucifixion, a painful agonizing death. I have been with people who have watched their loved ones both young and old suffer and die. The anguish families feel especially with a drawn out illness, is tremendous. I have walked people through divorces and I have walked them through forgiveness of a failed spouse, the pain with both can be overwhelming. The pain is not the thing that I fear for people, it is the attitude that worries me.

Job lost everything, his fortune, his children, his home; all he had left to his name was a wife that wanted him to curse God and die. Job’s response was a very simple, “Though He slay me, yet I will serve him!” God saw his heart, helped him through his grief, and restored everything that was stolen from him.

For the thieves on their crosses, they were getting what they deserved as punishment under Roman law. One in his pain and suffering decided to continue to lash out at others. Because of his pain, rejection, and spiritual agony he refused to see that his deliverance and peace were right beside him. The other thief, in the exact same circumstances, took his eyes off of his problems and looked to the Lord for his answers. One ended the day in paradise, one in hell!

Everyday we face the same choices. We all struggle with things from minor difficulties to major catastrophes. With each struggle we have a choice to have the right attitude which allows the Lord to bless us and get us through our struggle or to gripe, curse, get angrier, become vengeful, or any one of hundreds such response that pull us further away from our joy, peace, and communion with the Lord. Attitudes can make the difference between going through heaven or hell in our situation.

The Lord taught me many years ago, circumstances do not determine God’s will, people do not determine God’s will, things do not determine God’s will only His Spirit determines His will for our lives. When we create an environment for His Spirit to move in our lives, by choosing to trust him despite our circumstances, His perfect will is accomplished and we have joy regardless of the situation.

What about your circumstances today, are you going to be fearful, angry, vengeful, or are you going to be trusting and look for the Lord in the middle of what you are going through.

Tomorrow Luke 24