My attitude makes a difference. As Coach Taylor said to his football team in Facing the Giants “Your attitude is like the aroma of your heart. If your attitude stinks, it means your heart’s not right.” My attitude, my heart, determines whether or not I can have joy in the good and bountiful times in life as well as the hardships and trials. I have the ability to make choices in life. God gave me that freedom. I can choose to be happy in life or I can choose to be sad; joyful or sorrowful. Happiness and joy come from the Lord, but I have to be willing to accept those precious gifts from Him and not let them drift away. Things happen in life; some seem good and others seem bad. How I choose to deal and react when good or bad arises, what attitude I have towards them, will make the difference. Happiness and joy come from the Lord, but I have to be willing to accept them from Him.
The enemy is hard at work in this world to try and keep people from Jesus and the joy that a life with Him brings. He will try to do whatever he can to keep people from experiencing that joy that comes from knowing Jesus and living a life for Him. I believe that God does allow things to happen in life for a reason, but I also believe that Satan throws everything he can at followers of Jesus to make the trials of my life, big or small, as awful as possible. He does not like it when they are filled with the joy that knowing Jesus brings and he is out to kill every little bit of joy by throwing things at them in life that he knows will be hard to to have a good attitude about.
Thankfully we have Help!
I cannot have a good attitude in my own strength. Sure, I can make the choice to have a good attitude, but I cannot have it and keep it for long on my own. On my own, I am only a simple human being. I need help. I need Jesus’ help. I can ask Him to help me change my attitude in all areas of life: toward others, toward the past, present, and future, and toward situations and circumstances. So when hard-times arise in life, I have a choice to make: I can let the hard-times get the better of me and have a bad attitude, a smelly heart, toward it all, or I can look to Jesus, and call out to Him to help me through with a joy-filled, sweet smelling heart. And if I ask for His help, He will help me because He loves me and He loves to see me living my life high on His joy.
Nehemiah 8:10b
Do not sorrow, for the joy of the Lord is your strength.
Psalm 19: 14
Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart
Be acceptable in Your sight,
O Lord, my strength and my Redeemer.
1 Thessalonians 5:16-18
Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.
