Adjust Your Attitude

Adjust your attitude!  Our attitude is how we approach or react to any given situation.  Even if we have a right attitude when it comes to the game of checkers, I’m willing to bet that attitude is something that we all struggle with.  Adjusting our attitude is easier said than done.  To help us we’ll use Jesus as our example AND more importantly our substitute.

Bad Sports

I would like to introduce you to Caleb Williams.  Caleb can’t win them all.  In one of the few losses he experienced in college, Caleb refused to shake hands with the Utah players from the opposing team.  You could call him a sore loser.  On the other hand the Cavilers of Clackamas High in Oregon defeated the Raiders of Reynolds High school 97-20, with a girl who will be going to USC scoring points in the last minutes of the game.  Some would say that being a bad winner.

How is your attitude?  I have to admit that mine isn’t always great.  There are times that I get sucked into a sin!  Temptations can wear me down.  What does it look like being a slave to sin?  I think you know.  As the child is overcome with rage and the checkers fly he becomes a slave.  When the other child rejoices not in his victory but in the defeat of his opponent he becomes a slave.  It’s true that children grow and learn to control their behavior, but that doesn’t mean we’re free.  My fellow adults when do you become a slave?

And the award goes to…

Last fall South Fayette’s boys basketball coach Dave Mislan is getting national recognition for sportsmanship after allowing a player on an opposing team to clinch a milestone. He just needed two more points to get to the 1,000 mark.  Dave told his team to let him get it.  Mislan is being honored as a recipient of the Musial Awards, named after Donora native Stan Musial, given out annually “to encourage kindness, integrity and civility in sports and society.”

When it comes to attitude, Jesus is perfect.  If there was anyone who could have thrown a tantrum – or at least had every right to demand justice – it was Jesus.  He never did because he knew that it was the only way that we could be saved.  Jesus rescued us from our slavery by his innocent death on the cross.  There wasn’t a sportsmanship award waiting for Jesus – it was the highest place – higher than any podium could be.  What’s higher than 1st place?  I don’t know but every knee will bow one day to Jesus Christ the Lord.

Want to hear more?  Watch this week’s message taken from Philippians 2.