Stigmattitude-H
We live in the information age.
Some of it is good and some of it is bad and some of it is reliable. There are times when the things that we learn bring us pain and disappointment.
There are people at times who see life and even faith through some very dark glasses. (Stigmattitude)
My counselor has finally forced me to face the fact that I am a failure in my ministry. Permit me to list my evangelical demerits.
1. I have never been to the Holy Land. I mean, not even as a visitor, let alone as a tour guide. I wince whenever I see a "Go to the Holy Land!" ad in a religious magazine. My wife has even stopped buying kosher wieners because they make me feel convicted. It's terrible.
2. Every program I've started has failed. Our "Evangelism Explosion" didn't explode: it gave an embarrassed "pop" and rolled over and died. Finis. Kaput. I attended a "Church Growth Seminar", and while I was gone, six families left the church. No explanation -- they just up and disappeared.
3. The refugee family we tried to sponsor refused to come. The last I heard, they were seeking asylum in a Chinese restaurant in St. Louis.
4. Whenever I try "Dial-a-Prayer", I get a wrong number, and it's usually a funeral home or a chicken carry-out place. I tried "Dial-a- Meditation" the other day, and the tape broke after the first sentence, which was: "So things aren't going well today?" It's frightening.
5. Board meetings. You should attend them -- because nobody else does. And I get the wildest excuses: "The dog was sick," or "I had to change the light bulb in the garage," or "My wife needed both cars." I always mimeograph agendas but nobody is there to use them. My wife uses them for grocery lists.
6. Our church teams never win any games. Baseball, basketball, volleyball, shuffleboard -- you name it and we've lost it. The town Little League champs challenged us and won.
I am thinking of sharing all of this with our denominational leaders but they are never around when I phone, and all their letters to me are addressed to "Occupant". I have been told that failure could be the back door to success, but the door seems to be locked and I can't find a key. Any suggestions?
-- Christianity Today
See: Psa 71:14
ATTITUDE
The longer I love, the more I realize the impact of attitude on life.
Attitude is often more important than facts.
Attitude is more important than money.
Attitude is more important than the past.
Attitude is more important than circumstances.
Attitude is more important than failures or successes.
Attitude is more important than what other people think, say or do.
Attitude is more important than physical skill, or mental capacity.
Attitude will break a company...a church...or a home...
The remarkable thing is that I have a choice everyday, regarding the attitude I will embrace for that day.
I cannot change the past.
I cannot control the future.
I cannot control how someone else will act.
The only thing I can do is control my own attitude.
I am convinced that life is 10% what happens to me, and 90% how I react to it.
It is all up to me for I am in charge of my ATTITUDE.
Unknown
In this state of mind we tend to make some bad observations and ask some bad questions.
Ø Everything is meaningless – v. 2
Ø What does man gain from all his labor – v. 3
Ø I’m bored – v. 8
Ø There’s nothing new. – v. 9a
Ø Nothing is ever going to change – v.9b
Ø We’re gone and forgotten – v. 11
The net effect of a cynical pessimistic outlook is to render us powerless.
“15 What is twisted cannot be straightened; what is lacking cannot be counted.” What does it truly mean to be powerless?
BEING POSITIVE
Being positive is looking at every situation from the proper perspective. When we drift off into self pity, remorse, pessimism, or an angry resentful attitude towards any situation; we are no longer able to contribute to the answer. We are living in the problem rather than the answer. When we do this we are wasting good energy that could be used to be productive. Sadness and disappointment are not bad emotions. It's when we dwell in negative emotions that we become an instrument of confusion rather than an instrument of peace.
Annie
Once we consciously or unconsciously, accept the notion that we cannot make a difference, we become people who no longer seek solutions to problems, merely the problems.
CRITICISM
The galleries are full of critics. They play no ball, they fight no fights. They make no mistakes because they attempt nothing. Down in the arena are the doers. They make mistakes because they try many things. The man who makes no mistakes lacks boldness and the spirit of adventure. He is the one who never tries anything. His is the brake on the wheel of progress. And yet it cannot be truly said he makes no mistakes, because his biggest mistake is the very fact that he tries nothing, does nothing, except criticize those who do things.
David M. Shoup
This fatalistic attitude affects many individuals and churches today.
We withdraw from society many times and cloister together not so much because we want to be pure as much as we are discouraged because we are ineffective. I believe that one of the main reason for division in churches today is that we have silently concluded that the Great Commission is Comission Impossible
How do we adjust our vision in order to be redemptive agents in the world in which we live?
Ø Life “under the sun” is not life as God originally created or intended it to be. It is life infected by the consequences of a fallen nature.
Ø Our knowledge of the injustices of life and the problems that plague this world are not meant to lead us to despair but to hope.
Ø Our attitudes and our approach will be transformed as we see this world through the eyes of Christ.
Please beware of a cynical spirit in any area. Don't be cynical for any reason. Don't be cynical even toward yourself. For every Christian who is troubled by pride, I suspect there is another whose opinion of himself is so low that it hinders him from seeing that God is bigger than his faults.
Tozer offers some good sense on the subject.
"In this world of real corruption, there is a real danger that the earnest Christian may overreact in his resistance to evil and become a victim of the religious occupational disease, cynicism. The constant need to go counter to popular trend may easily develop in him a sour habit of fault-finding and turn him into a critic of other men's manners, without charity and without love. What makes this cynical spirit particularly dangerous is that the cynic is usually right. His
analyses are accurate, his judgements are correct, yet for all that he is frightfully, pathetically wrong. As a cure for the sour, fault-finding attitude, I recommend the cultivation of the habit of
thanksgiving. Thanksgiving has great curative powers, and a thankful heart cannot be cynical.
I believe there are overriding principles that we should follow and be led by. Forgive me in advance if I sound a bit philosophical, but I do believe your philosophy is critical to
your life's success.
First, let me say that life is about constant, predictable patterns of change. For the six thousand years of recorded history, as humans have entered this world, received parental instruction, classroom instruction, and gathered the experience of life, many have set for themselves ambitious goals, and dreamed lofty dreams. As the wheel of life continues its constant turning, all human emotions appear, disappear, and appear once again.
As we approach this new millennium, for all of us, the only constant factor in life is our feelings and attitudes toward life. A major challenge faced by us all is that we must learn to experience the changing of life's cycles without being changed by them; to make a constant and conscious effort to improve ourselves in the face of changing circumstances.
That is why I believe in the power and value of attitude. As I read, ponder and speculate about people, their deeds and their destiny, I become more deeply convinced that it is our natural destiny to grow, to succeed, to prosper, and to find happiness while we are here. But, it does take effort to continue when our results, as well as our friends, tell us to give up trying. It does not, however, take effort to fail. It requires little more than a slowly deteriorating attitude about our present, our future, and about ourselves. It is ironic that one of the few things in this life that we have total control over is our own attitude, and yet most of us live our entire life behaving as though we had no control whatsoever.
By our attitude, we decide to read, or not to read. By our attitude, we decide to try or give up. By our attitude, we blame ourselves for our failure, or we blame others. Our attitude determines whether we tell the truth or lie, act or procrastinate, advance or recede, and by our own attitude we and we alone actually decide whether to succeed or fail.
How incredibly unique that a God who would create the complex and immense universe would create the human race and give to humans the free choice that would permit them to select their own achievement or their own destruction.
This strange, but all-knowing God gave to us a delicately balanced sphere called earth. On it, he placed the intelligent human who would either develop it or destroy it. How terribly fascinating that a God would leave both projects - earth as well as humans - unfinished! Across the rivers and streams he built no bridges; he left the pictures unpainted, the songs unsung, the books unwritten, and space unexplored. For the accomplishment of those things, God created the unfinished human who, within his heart and mind, had the capacity to do all these things and more, depending upon his own choice.
Attitude determines choice, and choice determines results. All that we are, and all that we can become has indeed been left unto us. For as long as you continue to draw breath, you have the chance to complete the work on and for the earth and for yourself that God has begun for you. In the cycles and seasons of life, attitude is everything!
--- Jim Rohn