Just the other day we had some friends over for the night. She and I were preparing breakfast when she needed to stop and correct her daughter. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Megan cross her arms in protest. Becky, the good Mommy she is, didn't let that pass. "Meggy, you don't cross your arms at Mommy." What Megan needed was an attitude change.
Sometimes there are things God brings into my life that, well...I just don't like. I don't see them from His vantage point - only mine. With arms crossed I have my little attitude. I can picture Him looking down on me saying, "Tammy, you don't cross your arms at your Father." Now you know what I'm going to say next...what I need is an attitude change.
How do we change our attitude? Well, changing our attitude isn't about changing our situation. It's about changing the way we choose to react. Like how we react when the neighbor's music is too loud and it's past midnight. How we react when we're cut off in traffic. How we react when we're called a derogatory name because we're foreigners. Or how about how we react when someone eats the last horded Reeses Peanut Butter Cup. Now I'm preaching to the choir! This is where we are at. We live in places where everything around us is different. Some days we just really don't like it! BUT, that is exactly where God wants us. He is not only using us to spread the Gospel, He is using our environment to conform us to the image of His Son. Romans 8:29a - "For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son..."
When we surrendered to God's call to go to another land and give the Good News of the Gospel, and see lives changed, we didn't realize that much of the change was going to be in us. We only saw part of God's plan. Sort of like Jonah. Jonah knew God wanted to warn the Ninevites of their coming destruction if they didn't repent, but what he failed to understand was that God also wanted his own heart to be changed.
So let's be challenged today to let the Word of God transform us - to change our attitude. It's not us trying harder. It's allowing Him to work in our hearts and change us from the inside out.
3 comments:
So good, Tammy, thanks! I love the picture... a very poignant picture of my heart attitude sometimes before my Father... when a 1-hr visit turns into 5 hours for example. Or a Sunday school teacher doesn't show up on Sunday to teach her lesson. Or the welder is so loud we can't have a good discussion about living a quiet, peaceful life. :-) Forgive me, Lord for my crossed arms!
"When we surrendered to God's call to go to another land and give the Good News of the Gospel, and see lives changed, we didn't realize that much of the change was going to be in us."
Wow.... I loved this... especially that sentence I quoted you on! Thank you, Tammy!
So true! This is really good!
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