I’ve Got a New Attitude

“… to be made new in the attitude of your minds…” (Ephesians 4:23)

Last week was a challenging week. No matter what I did, situations that were beyond my control kept preventing me from getting things done around the house. At first I reacted faithfully. I prayed and trusted that God would handle all the details. As time went on and more obstacles cropped up, I began to think that I would never dig my way out of the mountain of work that was piling up.

My wonderful husband came up with several helpful ideas which I promptly shot down.

Finally my husband said to me, “You know, lately you have become very negative.” I gave him a bewildered look and said, “I have?” He replied, “Yes you have.”

“How?” I asked.

“Well for example, whenever I offer a solution you respond with all kinds of reasons why it won’t work. You are not solution oriented, you are problem focused.”

His comments made me stop and think. He was right. I had become negative and problem focused and now it was beginning to affect my faith. I needed an attitude adjustment and I needed it fast.

A Change of Mind

“Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.” (Romans 12:2)

Negative thoughts, if left unchecked, can easily take over our mind and the result is a negative, worldly mindset. The Apostle Paul taught that we can fight worldly thinking by renewing our mind. In other words, retraining ourselves to think the way God wants us to think.

So my first step toward changing my attitude was to renew my mind with God’s way of thinking. But that led me to my next question—what exactly did God want me to start thinking about?

A Change of Focus

“Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.” (Philippians 4:8)

Paul once again showed me the direction I needed to take. I learned from the scripture above that I must focus my thoughts on things that are positive, righteous and godly. This is the way God wants me to think.

How I view things shapes how I respond to my circumstances. If I constantly think negative thoughts I will react to my circumstances in a negative way. Eventually my negativity gives way to pessimism and pessimism gives way to unbelief. The end result is that I view my circumstances as insurmountable and my faith spirals down into a pit of despair. But godly thinking leads to a faithful attitude, which in turn leads to faithful reactions.

A Change of Strategy

“We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.” (2 Corinthians 10:5)

How do you keep negative thoughts from attacking your mind? As the scripture above says, take captive every thought and make it obedient to Christ. That is the power we have in Christ. Instead of giving into negative thinking, fight back with positive, godly thoughts. For every negative thought that comes to mind think of a positive thought to counteract it. This takes practice if you have a history of negative thinking. You’ll need to retrain yourself.

I decided to use this scripture to fight my negative thoughts.

Romans 8:31-32 says, “What, then, shall we say in response to this? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?”

We live in a fallen world. Negative circumstances are a fact of life. It is our choice how we will react. We can give into negative thinking or we can change the way we think by fighting back with godly thoughts. If you find that negative thoughts have started to affect your attitude, don’t let it get you down. Fight back. Then you too can say, “I’ve Got a New Attitude.”

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© 2002 – 2009 Blair Massey

Christian Lifestyle expert Blair Massey is devoted to helping Christian women around the world organize and manage their home, family and life. If you’re tired of struggling to keep up at home, Blair will show you how to unlock your God-given organizing ability so that you can start living the amazing life that God created you to enjoy! To learn how, sign up for her FREE newsletter now at www.christian-homemaking.com

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